Apparently, former NBA player John Amaechi is gay. I just thought he was British. After Amaechi's announcement, the NBA patted itself on the back for being so tolerant. It's true that the NBA is more progressive/liberal/enlightened than the MLB or NFL. Black coaches have been around since the 1960s, black people are in upper management, and people from all over the world are welcomed in the NBA.The reactions to Amaechi's announcement fit that perception to a startling degree. They ranged from Charles Barkley's- I have plenty of gay friends, who the hell cares who he sleeps with- to David Stern's- This is a league of diversity where the only question is do you have game?- to LeBron James'- The locker room is a place of trust and I would want to know while we played because a team is a family. This is a far cry from former NFL player Garrison Hearst's- I don't want to play with no faggots. Stern's comment concerns me a bit, because I hope he would realize the importance of a gay professional athlete and act on the player's behalf when needed. LeBron would be offended if he wasn't told by a teammate, because it would be a breech of trust- it seems so extreme (in the right direction); I love it.
So the NBA is ahead of its time, right? Well, not exactly. It's just not as behind as the other two major leagues. In a league where 2/3rds of the players are black, league management doesn't reflect that number. The NBA has one black majority owner, and it's the former owner of BET- feh. And Amaechi is the first person ever to have played in the NBA to come out. So, while I was pleasantly surprised by the NBA's reaction to John Amaechi's news, it might be too early for too much self-congratulation. Oh and if you're wondering if John Amaechi was good enough at basketball to be remembered, let's just say he's lucky he's gay.
2 comments:
Good for him for coming out.
But like you said, it's too soon for the NBA to pat itself on the back.
I mean, he made the annoucement AFTER he finished playing, not during, so that lessens the impact in my mind.
I can't imagine this will start an tidal wave of gay athletes coming out of the closet either. They all should feel comfortable making such statements, but I don't see others taking the same path.
And why would they? It would create a ton of media attention on them and their team, and I don't think any athlete would want that upon themselves or their teammates.
My prediction is that the first will be outed. He'll go through a really tough time, but it will make it easier and more acceptable for men to be gay and professional athletes because of him. But I agree, John Amaechi isn't the catalyst.
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