Hard and Away

Perhaps this story didn't really have legs. Gay rights was an issue that came into public view in the late 60s. The 70s became an era where some out gays lead a kind of free sex lifestyle. The 80s were about AIDS. Athletes, such as Martina Navratilova, were known to be gay as early as 1980. Gay marriages were performed in 2004. And let's face it, no one much knows John Amaechi.

So maybe his book wouldn't make a dent. It would be commented a day or two, and then it would be gone, to be replaced by talks of T.O., or Kobe, or Barry Bonds, or the controversy of the day.

But thank you Tim Hardaway! You shot your mouth off in an interview. You said you hate gays. You didn't want them on your team. There shouldn't be any of them in the US or in the world. John Amaechi said that he was, in some sense, relieved that Hardaway said this because he put in words what many players were dancing around. He said it raw as could be.

And people wrote in saying they supported Hardaway, and this was how they felt too. Imagine if you put "African American" in place of "gays" how that sounds. This feeling is often justified by pointing to the Bible, by referring to passages that back up an innate dislike of gays. Yet, there are passages that permit stoning of daughters, that claim those who work on the Sabbath may be stoned, and all sorts of painful admonitions that the religious public ignores, because well, it simply doesn't make sense to follow those pesky parts of the Bible. Just follow the ones that match up well with your prejudices. You know, the Bible also supported forms of slavery too. Want to go back to that?

When Esera Tuaolo came out after retiring from the NFL, fellow athletes said that he could never have come out in the NFL. Players would have to answer questions that they did not have to answer before. The African American community, perhaps due to the strength of the church, perhaps due to some need for machismo, has perhaps disdained homosexuality more per capita than other groups (although I suspect Latinos, being mostly Catholic, may give them a run for their money).

As one sports commentator points out, athletes can admit they beat their wives, that they use illicit drugs, but to admit to being gay? That's too much. The reaction show in the play Take Me Out was almost too good to be true. It assumed no one on the team really cared about the bright star player being gay, and no one in the public cared either. Ultimately, it was because the play wasn't really about how a gay player would be treated in the public, but instead, how a fan felt about the game of baseball (embodied by the nebbish but flamboyant, Mason Marzac) and ultimately not really about being a gay athlete nor really about how baseball is really like.

In many ways, except for his lack of fame, John Amaechi may be as noble a first person to come out gay as one would hope. He's interested in many things outside the NBA and hardly represents the video game playing, entourage needy, bling bling, hip hop stereotype of modern NBA players. He shows one of the many facets the NBA likes to project. International, erudite, and, oh yeah, plays a little ball too.

Is he Jackie Robinson? Robinson did indeed face hatred from fans, opponents, and yes, even teammates, but he also required someone willing to go to bat for him (so to speak) to make him a Dodger. He could not have crossed this barrier himself. There are no gay leagues that are producing players of comparable quality to the NBA that are being left out. But since being gay is not a visible manifestation, Amaechi could enter the league based on his own merits, a good journeyman player, though hardly outstanding. To make it to the NBA already says something significant about your skills.

And while Cuban claimed any player that came out would have plenty of endorsements, Amaechi wasn't so good a player that he could guarantee that this would happen. In fact, we'll see whether the endorsements do come? After this incident, it's likely to happen, perhaps because Amaechi seems like an ideal spokesperson. Not everyone wanted to be associated with Martina. Maybe if she looked like Sharapova, but she didn't. Eventually, her longevity helped win fans over.

On the other hand, how many people do you know that are out and have huge visibility because of their sexual orientation? Not so many, I think. Advertisers worry about backlash. I'm really interested in seeing what happens.

My feeling is if the NBA cared about this, they would start to make commercials with Amaechi, and see if the NBA is willing to take a stance despite the consequences. Already, Hardaway has been booted from the All-Star game. Is the NBA ready to take the next step?