By portraying Shane as selfish for caring about his professional achievements, professional reputation, being paid what he’s worth, and feeling reluctant to come out, Rachel Reid has basically absolved the role of homophobia in queer athletes’ struggles. By making the loss of these things HIS problem and something he’s supposed to get over quickly and glossing over his pain, she fails to portray how messed up it is that he’s forced to choose between love and career. There is no moment of reassurance or affirmation where it’s stated that “you are not selfish for caring about your career. There’s nothing wrong with a queer athlete having these concerns.”
She tells the story of TLG from the perspective of Ilya, who basically reinforces her messed up views, by making him tell readers that SHANE is breaking his heart for not wanting to hold his hands in public or go to Bood’s party, instead of how this HOMOPHOBIC WORLD is breaking his heart by making it unsafe for Shane to do these things. When Shane tells him about a conversation with Cromwell, Ilya feels angry at SHANE as well as Cromwell.
Overall, the homophobia in her hockey world is nearly nonexistent and queer athletes are portrayed as selfish cowards for wanting to stay in the closet.
