Here's what I found out this week:  There's a lot of hate around.  When John Amaechi made his announcement, I was expecting to hear NBA players say that they didn't care about his sexual orientation, but apparently a lot do.  LeBron James said a teammate isn't trustworthy if he's gay and doesn't tell his teammates.  Troy Hudson is ok with it but is worried about the showers. Ray Allen is worried about getting hit on.  And of course Tim Hardaway flat out "hates gay people." Last time I checked, making the NBA had to do with one thing: being a good basketball player.  It's sad how homophobic so many players in the league are.  There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about homosexuality.  One thing that isn't a misconception: people are unwilling to change their view of it.  If someone thinks homosexuality is a choice, nothing anyone says or does will change their mind.  Sounds pretty ignorant to me.  Being a heterosexual, the mindset of a homosexual is foreign to me and will be something I will never fully understand.  But I'm firm in the belief that if a homosexual says it's not a choice, then I'm going to go ahead and believe him/her.  I'm not in that person's shoes. I don't know what it's like to feel that way.    

And it seems so strange that in a league that is predominantly made up of the most discriminated segment of American society, players are so quick to discriminate against a person based on his sexual orientation.  I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that every Black player who had not-so-positive things to say about a having a gay teammate has also felt discrimination in their life.  I bet they felt how dehumanizing and ignorant discrimination is and wondered, "Why are people so close-minded?"  If you've felt the nastiness of prejudice, why dish it out to someone else?  

I wasn't sure how I felt about Amaechi's coming out at first.  It seemed a bit like a way to make money through book sales.  But, over the past week, I know that there is a greater good he is serving.  The dialogue that has been opened up has been immensely important to the advancement of our society through understanding different parts of society. What I would love to see now is for an active superstar to come out.  Like what if Kobe Bryant were gay?  What would his teammates say?  What would other NBA guys say?  Are they going to call him untrustworthy? With Amaechi's revelation, the ball has begun to start rolling.  And it's not just about homsexuality. It's about understanding that people in our world are different.  These discussions will hopefully help people understand differences and not fear them.  We'll see how far the ball goes.