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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Sep 28, 2007 - 07:21 AM



Joined: Sep 06, 2006
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A contrite Tim Hardaway now embraced by some in gay community

Quote:
"I just wanted to go in and get educated, that's all. Get educated on what I said and why I said those things,'' Hardaway said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm working on understanding it now. I'm not really trying to make amends. I've been there trying to get help.''

Hardaway has declined many interview requests in recent months, saying he didn't want to make his work with advocacy groups seem like a publicity stunt or a quick-fix to an image problem.

"I had no idea how much I hurt people,'' said Hardaway, who spent most of his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat, and still makes his home in South Florida. "A lot of people.''


Fair enough. It's the YES Institute, and I have a soft spot for such organizations.

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 21, 2007 - 11:33 PM



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Halfway down this page are these pleasing words:

Quote:
Available for $16,000 a month: the building at 3501 S. Dixie Hwy. in Miami that once housed a car wash co-owned by former NBA star Tim Hardaway. Hardaway and partner Cory Mason got evicted for not paying rent, says landlord Antonio A. Fernandez of Bird Road Properties.

The Hardaway team was in arrears before Hardaway got his rear-end in a sling over his ''I hate gay people'' interview on 790 The Ticket last month. Says Fernandez: ``It had nothing to do with the comments that he made.''

Hardaway apologized for his remarks.

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 15, 2007 - 12:18 AM



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Every gay organization in the country should now issue a press release vowing that should Hardaway come calling, their doors will be shut in his homophobic, hateful face.

Why should be participate in his efforts to rehabilitate his image?

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 14, 2007 - 10:11 PM



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Miami Herald

Quote:
''People have been trying to kick me when I'm down,'' he said this week, reflecting on everything that has happened. The reaction was ``very, very shocking. People saying my wife left me -- that's not true. My family is OK and my finances are OK.

``. . . I'm looking for a second chance and trying to clean up my image. I haven't been in trouble with drugs or guns. I'm an upstanding citizen. Like I told my children, life is not easy. This is a big bump I have to overcome. I'm going to deal with it like a champ. I've got to make sure people know I don't hate gay people.''

Hardaway, who attended a Heat game last week, said he soon will speak with a gay organization (he's considering three) to ''make them understand'' why he made his comments -- which he apologized for -- and to gain a better understanding of their perspective. He rejected an offer to spend a day with North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, who is gay, ``because that was more for publicity for him.''

Nor has he spoken to John Amaechi, whose disclosure that he is gay prompted Le Batard's question to Hardaway: ``I wasn't interested in what he had to say about [my comments]. I'm not interested in trying to sell his book.''

Nor does Hardaway see a need for sensitivity training: ``Why should I go to that? I'd rather go straight to [a gay organization].''


Mr. Hardaway teaches his children well -- life is not easy, and this is a bump he has to overcome (I'm not sure how big it is -- 'bumps' are usually far smaller in retrospect than they seem at the time). Making sure people know that he does not, in fact, "hate gay people" is not so difficult. It just has to be true. After that, demonstrating it is not so hard at all.

I would suggest he forget about the three mystery gay organizations. I don't think I even want to know which ones they are. I hear Mr. Hardaway went to high school in Chicago. Nice town, Chicago. If Mr. Hardaway goes to the Center on Halstead and explains to the kids at the Horizons Youth Program how he does not "hate gays" and they buy it, why wouldn't anyone else? If he wants "a better understanding of their perspective," I can think of no better place to get tutoring.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 28, 2007 - 06:27 PM



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True. And it becomes less and less perplexing why he might have "regreted" his choice of words.

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 28, 2007 - 05:10 PM



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Quote:

While the allegations certainly may not be true (that which is alleged is quite often untrue), these events, if they happened, pre-date Mr. Hardaway's comments by several months, and so could hardly have anything to do with the radio interview or the subsequent dénouement.


Yeah, but the Schadenfreude thusly derived is enough to give a guy a hard-on.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 28, 2007 - 04:57 AM



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'berto wrote:
Poor, poor Hardaway...

Quote:
After making anti-gay comments on a radio program, carwash owner and former NBA-All Star Tim Hardaway is being sued for more than $750,000 for skipping out on his mortgage, as well as rent payments on the carwash that used to bear his name, TMZ.com is reporting

The Feb. 23 story said Washington Mutual Bank is alleging that Hardaway failed to pay more than $45,000 in back rent for his Miami-area carwash.

According to TMZ.com, Hardaway is a guarantor on the lease and hasn't paid rent in several months, dating back to last fall.


While the allegations certainly may not be true (that which is alleged is quite often untrue), these events, if they happened, pre-date Mr. Hardaway's comments by several months, and so could hardly have anything to do with the radio interview or the subsequent dénouement.

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berto
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 27, 2007 - 08:59 PM



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Meanwhile, over in Seattle...

Owners of Seattle Sonics/Storm gave $1.1 million to Gary Bauer's anti-gay marriage campaign

.... another reason to hate basketball.

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berto
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 27, 2007 - 08:43 PM



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Poor, poor Hardaway...

Quote:
After making anti-gay comments on a radio program, carwash owner and former NBA-All Star Tim Hardaway is being sued for more than $750,000 for skipping out on his mortgage, as well as rent payments on the carwash that used to bear his name, TMZ.com is reporting

The Feb. 23 story said Washington Mutual Bank is alleging that Hardaway failed to pay more than $45,000 in back rent for his Miami-area carwash.

According to TMZ.com, Hardaway is a guarantor on the lease and hasn't paid rent in several months, dating back to last fall.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 25, 2007 - 05:34 AM



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'berto wrote:
Quote:
I suppose I have to say that I empathize.


Okay... but sympathize? Not really.


Now, now, I never did say "sympathize." Why would I say such a thing? It would not be true. I can only empathize.

Kyleovision wrote:
No one else is glad he's scared?


I never really framed the question that way. Upon reflection, I take no special pleasure from it. As you say, we don't do that, we just don't. I read his statements of fear and they just strike me as unreal, divorced from any sense of sanity. I suspect an anxiety disorder of some sort. He is in far more danger of the things he claims to fear from his position as a moderately wealthy, prominent public figure than he is from being a self-professed homophobe.

Since when have people been attacked in public places for being known homophobes? If this phenomenon exists at all, it has managed to evade my notice. Since when have people been attacked in their homes for being a known homophobe? There are a frightful lot of hateful people in the world who manage not to be "swarmed."

I think Mr. Hardaway's fears are baseless. While it's possible his statements just aren't true, it's more likely that he's just a bit overwhelmed by the remarkable public reaction. Certainly I am a bit surprised by it. Had he made his statements last year I seriously doubt that it would have made much press. I can see how the situation might be more alarming from the inside than it is on the outside.

But am I glad he's afraid?

I don't really know. It's a new phenomenon, this 'phobes feeling oppressed thing. Of course, the proper answer would be for me to say "no." I'm more interested in the true answer though, and I haven't come up with one yet. I'm not entirely satisfied that it's not some publicist's ploy. After all, I do find the kinds of fears he expressed to be entirely unreasonable given the position that he's really in.

Quote:
"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. ... I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."


Mr. Hardaway has profusely apologized for using the word "hate." I'm more concerned with the other words he used. What is the sentence "It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States" supposed to mean? It sounds awfully close to advocating genocide (without actually doing so). Mind you, lots of people are less coy and just say what's on their minds. I don't imagine that too awful many of them walk the streets in fear for having said so.

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 24, 2007 - 11:57 PM



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No one else is glad he's scared?

He ought to be scared. If he's going to go round saying 'I am a homophobe,' it is convenient if that is quite explicitly true-- even in the 'phobic' sense.

Not that he has much reason to be frightened of us gay folks 'coming for him.' We don't do that. One can argue-- the old 'reasonable people may disagree'-- about whether we *should* get a rep for that sort of thing. But as things stand, we just don't.

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berto
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 24, 2007 - 08:38 PM



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Quote:
How odd. These exact same concerns (even the exact same words) have been expressed by gay people for decades.


My thoughts, *exactly*.

Quote:
I suppose I have to say that I

empathize.


Okay... but sympathize? Not really.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 24, 2007 - 07:37 PM



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Quote:
I have to walk on eggshells. Not knowing what to expect from people. Not sleeping at night because of what someone may do.


How odd. These exact same concerns (even the exact same words) have been expressed by gay people for decades. I suppose I have to say that I empathize.

Mr. Hardaway might consider counseling if he is this troubled. Homophobia is choice.

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 24, 2007 - 03:26 PM



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From the interview:

Quote:
I have to walk on eggshells. Not knowing what to expect from people. Not sleeping at night because of what someone may do. Staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning thinking that someone may jump my fence and set my house on fire. Or someone try to break in and hurt us. We just went to the movies the other day and that's what I had running through my mind, how were people going to react? "Is someone going to do something real, real, real crazy to one of us?" I have no idea what people may do. And I'm going to have to be that way for a long time now, because you never know. You never know.


I have to say, I'm glad he's afraid. I hope he stays frightened.

As for the rest of it: this is not a contrite guy. This is not a guy who misspoke. This is just a guy twisting in the wind.

Well, you deserve it, you miserable motherfucker. Now go wash some cars or something.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Feb 23, 2007 - 05:20 AM



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Quote:
Prediction: next step, Hardaway tries to donate money (about $10,000 or so) to a gay cause. See if I'm wrong.


Nope (at least, not that I've seen).

Next step is the long one-on-one mea culpa set up by a press friend.

It's not working for me. NOW I think we cue the ten grand donation (though rehab is running a close second).

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Feral
Post subject: Hardaway  PostPosted: Feb 22, 2007 - 08:52 PM



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MonkeyBoy wrote:
From the blog Lullaby Pit:

Quote:
In a groundbreaking revelation that began to reverberate around the NBA on Wednesday, former player John Amaechi has become the first professional basketball player to openly identify himself as a homosexual.

[...]

Amaechi certainly isn't the world's only gay athlete, but he's one of very few to come out.

[...]

But we know there are gay players, right? Let's do some math. Estimates for how many gays there are in the US vary wildly, but it looks like the most reliable number for men is in the 2.8% range. So let's take that as our working estimate.

There are 32 NFL teams, and each carries around 60 players. So that's 1920.

30 NBA teams, 12-man rosters: 360 players.

There are 30 Major League Baseball franchises (if you count the Colorado Rockies) and they have 25-man rosters for the bulk of the season. So that's 750.

NHL teams dress a 20-man rosters for each game, and there are 30 teams, so that's another 600.

[...]

By my math, this means we can expect the following to be about right:
-NFL: 54 gay players
-NBA: 10 gay players
-MLB: 21 gay players
-NHL: 17 gay players

-Total in "Big 4" American sports leagues: 102 active gay players

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Feral
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Posted: Feb 08, 2007 15:09 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
former player John Amaechi has become the first professional basketball player to openly identify himself as a homosexual.


A minor quibble. a FORMER basketball player is not what I (or any other sensible person) would call a basketball player. He's not one, in precisely the same way that Mr. Foley's former pages were not pages, in precisely the same way that former minors are not under-aged once they stop being minors. Of course, it can be entertainingly self-serving to twist language so that transient states of being become persistent states of being. After all, no one is especially fond of change, least of all me.

The number of FORMER athletes that have come out is somewhat larger than this blogger imagines.

Still, his math is amusing. I'm easily amused by mathematics, largely because I am nearly incapable of performing these magic tricks with numbers. His simple model leaves a few casually important questions unaddressed. If 2.8% of the population is gay males (and for the purpose of the game I'll not argue the statistic, though I think it is properly twice that), how applicable is that figure really to the subset of the population that is engaged in professional sports? Those fellows are hardly representative of the male population at large (as much as they might think so and as much as I might enjoy that being the case). Professional sports are notoriously homophobic -- does this occupation then become less attractive than it might otherwise be for gay men with the requisite talents? A dreadfully large proportion of the gay male population is fond of hiding, chameleon-like, right in the depths of where they least ought to be -- does this make professional sports paradoxically more attractive as an occupation? Since those sports figures that have come out have pretty much unanimously done so well after their sport careers were over, I'm inclined to lean toward the latter. I think the blogger's admittedly conservative math has produced numbers that are a bit low. Increasing them by 50% would be reasonable. Doubling them would not be out of the question, depending on how much the population of professional sports players differs from the general population.

Quote:
Still, it's the sort of thing that maybe sends a chill through pro locker rooms. Note to our big-time jocks - like it or not, you're showering with the very thing that scares you the worst, and you're not even bright enough to know it.


I could underscore this curious observation with the addition that, not only are they showering with gays, they always have been. Except, I find these two sentences extremely curious. Why should this be the sort of thing that sends a chill through locker rooms? It seems to be common knowledge that straight men are scared of gay men and the butcher and more manly the straight guy the more terrified they become. I'm not seeing the logic there. Is it because someone foolishly used the suffix "phobia" at one point? I'm also not seeing any real evidence of the emotion of fear. People, indeed most living creatures, behave in a variety of ways when they are afraid, but this variety is not so bewildering that any behavior can then be labeled as evidence of fear just because you feel like doing so. The last point is common knowledge too. Every fag and his three best friends seems to know all about how very dumb the straight boys are... especially the jocks. They aren't all that dense. Now, certainly they seem to be oblivious to the likelihood that there are, and have been, gays in their midst. As much as this looks just like stupidity, I'm pretty sure it's just common arrogance.
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vanrozenheim
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Posted: Feb 09, 2007 00:14 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

David Steele argues as well, the coming out after one has done his bucks has no importance. Though I do not agree with him entirely about the impact of the late coming out (it's still important for youngsters), I must agree that it doesn't require much bravery.

Even more, one could suggest that all these "former" stars are trying to make an additional buck by writing their "shoking tell-all books". Without knowing the guy in question, I would not dare to join such accusations. But still the question is allowed, what did the man do on behalf of the gay people before? It is of course possible that he was one major sponsor of some gay youth projects or the like...

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'berto
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Posted: Feb 09, 2007 03:49 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I agree. It would have been a lot more noteworthy -- and brave -- to have come out during his playing days. Instead, we're left with a handful of former athletes, like Tewkesbury, Louganis (both swimmers) and a few others being "brave" after the fact. And, as long as they're playing, you get nothing but swirling "rumours" like those about Wendell Clark of the Maple Leafs -- *gasp* he criticized homophobic comments! He must he a queer! -- and a certain unnamed hockey player who was spotted in semi-regular company with Quebecois hottie singer Roch Voisine -- who has long denied he's a homo as well, even to the point of marrying a female. (I have it on good authority that while Roch might not be gay, he's "not virulently heterosexual", either... and he *does* have a thing for hockey players, I'm told. 'nuff said.)

But this is what we're left with, 'coz no queers will admit to it while there is a chance it might lose them money on their career.

Personally, I couldn't really care a lot, 'coz I don't watch most sports, except for hockey.

And diving.

And gymnastics.

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'berto
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Posted: Feb 13, 2007 04:39 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, peee-YOOK...

Headline: Amaechi overwhelmed by support

Translation: support from a bunch of straights

Quote:
Five days after becoming the first NBA player to acknowledge his homosexuality, former center John Amaechi said the spotlight has been chaotic.

Amaechi, whose "Man in the Middle" memoir will be released Wednesday...


Oh, sure... it's just coincidence that he's got a book coming out when he chooses to come out. Totally.

Quote:
... said he has been deluged with phone calls and e-mails from friends and supporters, but Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who coached Amaechi in Orlando, has been the only one from the league to reach out to him.

[...]

He said he hoped his coming out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse and took a measured approach to NBA players' reactions. "I think they illustrate the diversity of opinion," Amaechi said. "Some of them illustrate a great deal of naiveté, and an oversimplification of the issue, and some of them don't speak with much thought at all, but there are some really well-spoken, provocative things that people have said that are positive and they should be added to the conversation."


Translation: Some of them are so hetero-centrist and hetero-sexist that they have no frickin' clue about the reality faced by most queers in this country. Some of them are asshole bigots who should keep their mouths shut. There are a tiny handful who aren't immediately offensive or stupifyingly clued-out, and many of them would never have spoken a word for my rights -- for my existence -- if it hadn't been thrust in their faces, because they've just been coasting along with the omnipresent homophobia and discrimination throughout their career -- just like I have.

Quote:
Amaechi's also listened to some criticize him for coming out now, rather than when he was a player.

"I know that perhaps that would have been more impactful," he said, but added he was afraid to have his dream of playing in the NBA taken away.

"I worked really hard to get where I was," he said. "I started playing basketball when I was 17 in a country that doesn't play basketball. I was a fat kid that sat in the corner of the library, and six years later I was starting for the Cleveland Cavaliers. I left my family, my mother, when she was very sick with cancer, to do this thing. I thought I deserved to have my full shot at being a part of the NBA."


Translation: My dreams are more important than others' because they involve something important, like playing professional basketball. Others may have worked hard to get where they are too, but their sacrifices and their dreams aren't as important as mine, so let them sacrifice their dreams, risk their livelihoods, risk their lives by being open about who they really are at the most fundamental level in this homophobic, backwards, racist, xenophobic, sexist and most of all homophobic society that we laughingly call the leader of the Free World. Let them face all that while I reap any benefits that accrue to all that risk while I remain safely closeted, because my dreams -- my career as a basketball player -- is more important than their lives.

But I'll come out now, after I've safely retired, because I've got this book to hawk...

And I'm a dork for using a non-word like "impactful".

* * * * *

I almost forgot, I was going to add, those kids in the GSA thread have got more guts than Amaechi, and they get more of my respect. Some of them are showing *real* courage.

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'berto
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Posted: Feb 13, 2007 06:01 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toronto could support an outed player, says Amaechi

Quote:
Amaechi said yesterday he would dine and drink in this city's gay village before and after games against the Raptors, his homosexuality an open but guarded secret with other patrons in the bistros. He had once hoped to play for the Raptors, working out with the team in the summer of 1998 before the NBA lockout that September ended that chance.

"I was a regular up there," said the Englishman, who last week became the first NBA player to acknowledge he is gay. "I'd go to bars and people would talk to me about the game I'd played, so it wasn't as if they didn't know."

Meaning, the gay community was well aware Amaechi was homosexual -- even though the 6-foot-10, 280-pounder kept it hidden during his five NBA seasons with Cleveland, Orlando and Utah -- but never outed him.

[...]

"It's a complex answer but yes, within the fans of Toronto -- and this is a broad generalization -- yes, I think (they'd support a gay sports star)," said Amaechi, in New York to promote his new autobiography, Man in the Middle, to be released tomorrow.

"But the problem (an athlete) would have is: How much time is actually spent there versus being spent everywhere else? Although you may have this strange comfort zone when you come home (to Toronto), I think it would be emotionally and psychologically very draining and difficult, since so many people who play in Toronto aren't Canadian and they don't live there all year 'round."

There are other problems, too, such as the homophobia that is present throughout male pro sports. Amaechi is only the sixth male pro athlete to come out after their careers ended. None have admitted publicly to being gay during their careers. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said last week an openly gay NBAer could become "incredibly rich" and "an American hero" for taking a stand.

However, Amaechi said there are good reasons there aren't more openly gay athletes: It can be financially and emotionally destructive. "It's so naíve when you hear people, especially when it's gay people, who say (gay athletes should go public)," he said.

"It's not a question of this (gay) person's personal limitations or individual cowardice. There are good examples directly in front of you of the damage it has done," Amaechi continued, mentioning Martina Navratilova' failure to earn major endorsements after revealing she was a lesbian even though she dominated tennis.


Right. It's all about the money you can make, not people's lives. How naive of me not to understand that...

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MonkeyBoy
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Posted: Feb 13, 2007 15:39 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said last week an openly gay NBAer could become "incredibly rich" and "an American hero" for taking a stand.


Such a person might or might not be 'heroic,' but he notion that such a move might somehow help an athlete's career betrays an absolutely stunning lack of understanding of what it's like to be Gay in North America.

ETA: Amaechi Gets Death Threats After Coming Out
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Feral
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Posted: Feb 14, 2007 00:32 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
his homosexuality an open but guarded secret with other patrons in the bistros.

...

"I was a regular up there"


Someone want to take a stab at explaining this to me?

I'm familiar with the phenomenon -- I just don't get why we do it. We get perturbed when people don't come out. We get perturbed when they come out, but far too late for it to be of much good. And we are, quite reasonably, perturbed.

Yet he was not outed.
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vanrozenheim
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Posted: Feb 14, 2007 01:19 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'berto wrote:
I almost forgot, I was going to add, those kids in the GSA thread have got more guts than Amaechi, and they get more of my respect. Some of them are showing *real* courage.


Oh yes - there are kids much more courageous than many of the supposed "heroes". Coming out at workplace/school always was and still is about putting one's social status and wealth at risk. Some people have the courage to come out, some do not. I have only scorn left for all the wealthy and prominent gays who imagine themselves in a particularly threatened position, because there is so much at risk. Fools, in their arrogance they don't realize that while they are solely jopardizing their luxury, a simple worker is putting his entire existence at risk. Now say, who needs more courage to come out?
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'berto
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Posted: Feb 15, 2007 08:33 Post subject:

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Retired Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway says he hates 'gay people'

Quote:
Retired Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway said Wednesday that he hates gay people, but later said he regretted the remarks.

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people," he said while a guest on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket. "I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

[...]

"First of all, I wouldn't want [Amaechi] on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker-room while we are in the locker-room."

If he did find out that a teammate was gay, Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.

[...]

He later apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami.

"Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that," he said. "That was my mistake."


That doesn't sound like a sincere apology to me. That sounds like exactly what he said -- he regrets saying it, that's all. I rather suspect he still holds exactly the views that he stated -- he's just sorry that he stated them so plainly.

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Feral
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Posted: Feb 15, 2007 18:19 Post subject:

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Of course he regrets it, probably quite sincerely too.

Quote:
After the NBA learned of Hardaway's comments, a league spokesman said Hardaway had been removed from further league-related appearances.

"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement to the Sun-Sentinel.


Perhaps Mr. Hardaway can get work endorsing something for M&M Mars. That would at least be convenient for me. Certainly I shall be keenly interested in knowing who does find it appropriate for Mr. Hardaway to be representing them.

I had wondered what Jasmyne Cannick would have to say about this particular matter, given her views on the Isaiah Washington flap.

Quote:
I sent off a letter to the President of the NAACP asking them to condemn Hardaway's statement. You should too.

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MonkeyBoy
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Posted: Feb 16, 2007 07:18 Post subject:

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From Cannick's comments:

Quote:
What can I say? Internalized oppression and post traumatic slave syndrome can do that to a person.



...And the professional Left actually wonders why nobody takes them seriously.
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Feral
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Posted: Feb 18, 2007 20:27 Post subject:

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Shaq: I'd protect a gay teammate

Quote:
LAS VEGAS — Former Heat guard Tim Hardaway has become a lightning rod for critics because of his anti-gay comments, but Heat center Shaquille O'Neal said he would protect a gay teammate if he was made a target.

"I was always taught as a youngster to never judge people, so I never judge people and to each their own," O'Neal said Friday during All-Star Weekend media sessions.

"If he was my teammate and people ridiculed him and jumped on him, I would probably have to protect him."

Other people around the NBA are afraid to discuss Hardaway's remarks.

"Who is Tim Hardaway?" former NBA star Bill Laimbeer said Friday when asked about Hardaway's remarks. "Next question."


Thanks oodles, Mr. O'Neal. Were you also taught as a youngster to help others, especially those younger and less fortunate than yourself? Thought so.

See you at the very next fundraiser for a GSA. Hey -- you could appear at the GSA in your old high school. That'd be a real kick in the rubber parts, don't you think? Oops, there doesn't seem to be one at Robert G Cole Junior/Senior High School. Well that's a pity. How about dropping by the drop-in center at the Diversity Center in San Antonio? Bet that'd go over rather well. Hey, if your publicist set it up, I'd bet you could swing a game of pick-up with their youth group.

Now, that "who is Tim Hardaway?" bit amused me. Nice one. The entire rush to get on the right side of the line is more than a touch edifying... really it is.

Just as Mr. Hardaway's remarks can do real damage, some of the simplest positive acts on the part of those like Mr. O'Neil can do real good. How special that Mr. O'Neil is willing to say (hypothetically, of course) that he would probably have to protect a teammate who was being ridiculed and jumped on. How very convenient that there are no such teammates (that anyone knows about) in such circumstances to test his resolve.

Words are cheap. They're confetti. It's nice stuff to toss around at a pride parade, but it ain't June. Words are not "supportive" and they don't get you any more credit than those ever-popular "gay friends" that everyone and his cousin seem to have.

You want on the anti-anti-gay bandwagon? Show me something.

I'm not even asking for a million dollars. (How many homeless kids -- gay or straight -- can a man like Shaquille O'Neal help in a massive and permanent way? Think it's more than 3?) One game of pick-up basketball with a gay youth group and a half-way competent publicist can undo everything that Hardaway did this last week and more.
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MonkeyBoy
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Posted: Feb 19, 2007 01:26 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
One game of pick-up basketball with a gay youth group and a half-way competent publicist can undo everything that Hardaway did this last week and more.


That's an incredibly good idea. My understanding from others is that the NBA Legends program that Mr. Hardaway got fired from actually fields a team, rather like the NHLPA Alumni teams that go round playing for charity.

If the NBA Legends team made just that much effort, Hardaway would be left in the dust.

UPDATE: Hardaway apologizes...again:

Quote:
MIAMI (AP) - Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway apologized again Sunday for his anti-gay remarks, telling a Miami television station that he "didn't mean" to say what he said in a South Florida radio interview last week.

Hardaway, in an interview at his home with CBS affiliate WFOR, acknowledged he made a major mistake by saying "I hate gay people" when asked how he would react to having a gay teammate.

"I don't hate gay people," Hardaway said. "I'm a goodhearted person. I interact with people all the time. ... I respect people. For me to say 'hate' was a bad word, and I didn't mean to use it."

[...]

On Sunday, he acknowledged "that was very bad."

[...]

"It was like, you know, I had killed somebody. ... I never knew that this was going to escalate that high," Hardaway said.


What's sad is that he just cannot see that he may well have killed somebody. Is it so crazed to be able to picture the 15yo gay b-ball fanatic out there for whom such comments are the last straw?

UPDATE II: Meanwhile, at least one commentator says we should be grateful for Hardaway's idiocy, comparing him to Bull Connor-- pleasantly apt simile, that.

UPDATE III: Furthermore, after local calls for a boycott, Mr. Hardaway has changed the name of the car-wash he owns in Miami. With a new sign put up on Saturday, Tim Hardaway's Finest Hand Carwash shall henceforth be known as Grand Luxe Auto Bathe. And no, that's not my typo.

Yes, gay minions... hound that motherfucker! Hound him!

Prediction: next step, Hardaway tries to donate money (about $10,000 or so) to a gay cause. See if I'm wrong.
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Feral
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Posted: Feb 19, 2007 09:41 Post subject:

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Quote:
after local calls for a boycott, Mr. Hardaway has changed the name of the car-wash he owns in Miami


How very.... Twilight Zone.

I can see why the NBA might drop him. As Bill Laimbeer said, ""Who is Tim Hardaway?" But the man drops himself as an endorser... for his own business?

Harsh.

...And yes, I do believe the NBA Legends team could do a great deal of good with one tour. I hesitate to think what the NBA as a whole might accomplish if they actually set their minds to correcting some of the filth they've allowed to accumulate over the decades.

I note that, thus far, they have not.
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MonkeyBoy
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Posted: Feb 21, 2007 19:10 Post subject:

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I was waiting for the Round 2 opinion pieces, and I am not to be disappointed. Film critic and professional culture-war whiner Michael Medved 'weighs in.'

Gay Men Akin to Profoundly Unattractive, Morbidly Obese Women, or 'Where Hardaway Was Right'

Quote:
Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn’t welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they’d welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women. I specify unattractive females because if a young lady is attractive (or, even better, downright “hot”) most guys, very much including the notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association, would probably welcome her joining their showers. The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction. She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she’s grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her.

Many gay activists suggest that this near-universal straight male repulsion at the idea of sex with another man is merely the product of cultural conditioning: a learned prejudice that ought to be unlearned. This represents the core message of gay pride parades and even the drive for same-sex marriage: an effort to persuade all of society that gay sex is as beautiful as straight sex, and to “cure” men of their visceral disgust at the very thought of what two (or more) male homosexuals do with one another.

According to the “enlightened” advocates of gay liberation, this disgust gets to the very essence of “homophobia” – an altogether unjustified fear and distaste for male-on-male physical intimacy. When Hardaway says “I hate gay people” what he suggests at the deepest level is that he feels revolted by the very notion of same-sex eroticism and that he’d prefer not to face the distraction of such thoughts in the locker room or on the court.

[...]

Those who suggest that a guy could shower with young female athletes without risk of arousal, or that a gay guy could shower with young male athletes with problems or discomfort, don’t merely defy common sense. They ignore human nature.


[I'm not linking to a hate site, but if you're all that interested, Mr. Medved's screed is on Townhall.com.]

I find it amazing that those who hate us can so casually find us homos variously and incumbently perverse while simultaneously (and accidentally) imbuing us with what they demonstrably see as a super-human control over our otherwise all-consuming perversion.

What *can* I mean, you ask?

Well, I grew up in boys' dormitories where there were no openly gay residents-- not even me. Funny thing, I managed never to pitch wood in the showers. In all those years, there was never a scandal (and a scandal it would have been, too) that alleged that one of the other boys had done so either... yet the idea that I was the only gay kid in the building is absurd.

So, since str8 people like Medved admit that *they* wouldn't be able to control themselves when confronted by a potential object of lust-- and since we fags obviously can-- which group is the 'morally deficient' one?
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