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Gay athlete reflects on coming out |
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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 |
Michael Jordan is known for his six NBA titles and his tongue wagging out of his mouth, and Tiger Woods is known for his 11 major titles and signature fist pump.
Athletes are supposed to be known for what they accomplish on the field, not what they do off it.
However, more and more, athletes are becoming more infamous for their off court lifestyles.
A new book will come out on Valentine’s Day about how former Orlando Magic center John Amaechi is a homosexual.
He is not the first to come out as a gay professional athlete, but he
is one of six to publicly proclaim his sexuality in a major team sport.
Whenever his name comes up, we won’t think of him as a solid backup in
the NBA, but the thought will be: “Oh yeah, he’s that gay guy.”
This book should encourage and inspire homosexual athletes to be comfortable in their sexual preference and to come out.
Amaechi’s former teammate Grant Hill praised his efforts for coming out.
“The fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the
comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are playing or
retiring,” Hill said.
Many gay athletes have come out after their careers have been over,
such as Billy Bean, tennis star Martina Navratilova and Billy Jean
King. But there hasn’t been any in America who have come out while
actively playing.
Unfortunately, the world is very prejudiced toward gay people.
For an NBA, MLB or NFL player to come out as gay while still playing
hinders his chances of playing for a top team or earning more money
because a team isn’t willing to ruin “team chemistry” with gay men
peeping around in the locker room.
“As long as you don’t bring your gayness on me, I’m fine. As far as
business-wise, I’m sure I could play with him. But I think it would
create a little awkwardness in the locker room,” Philadelphia ‘76er
forward Shavlik Randolph said in response to Amaechi’s coming out.
NBA commissioner David Stern disregarded the question saying, “The
question at the NBA is always ‘Have you got any game?’ That’s the end
of inquiry.”
Amechi’s motive is uncertain because the book hasn’t been released, but
he will make a pretty penny for his publicized book and earn respect
throughout the homosexual community.
It irritates me that I am even writing this, because it plays into the
hands of athletes who come out with a book that shows why they did
something wrong or bad.
Amaechi didn’t do anything bad. The point is that the book he’s writing isn’t about his NBA playing career.
I’m specifically pointing at people like Pete Rose, who came out with a
book on why he gambled on baseball games as a manager for the
Cincinnati Reds in an effort to clear the waters and give him a chance
to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
If Amaechi was a salesman in the corporate world, and came out that he was gay, nobody would care.
However, he has the platform of being an athlete and sharing his experiences, so he will do it.
I fear that it will help gay athletes slowly come out of their shells,
but it will hurt that player’s reputation in the locker room, and it
will also affect his or her salary.
Amaechi’s move is bold and may end up helping gay athletes come out of
the closest. But these athletes’ careers may end to reach that point.
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