NBA's Tim Hardaway on Gays in Sports

[beefeater]

Tell us how you really feel about gays was the reaction today regarding former NBA player Tim Hardaway comments on playing with a gay team mate.

 

Of course, once the press got wind of his views, he immediately apologized.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6473866

[Louis]

I often wonder if homophob's are in denial about their own feelings for men.

[+ Lucky]

RE: NBA's Tim Hardaway on Gays

 

I knew a guy in New York that was dating a famous basketball player. He led me to believe that some of the biggest stars were on the DL.

[bostonman]

You know, I've never understood or bought into the "locker room" argument - I think it's very immature to assume that most gay men, in a professional situation with teammates they have to work with day in and day out, would be any kind of a threat in the locker room (either in terms of privacy - there is such a thing as a sense of decorum in such situations - or in terms of come-ons, which today could certainly be brought up as sexual harrassment if it happened). I think it's even more immature for these homophobic players to assume that they personally are SUCH a perfect male specimen that they'd automatically warrant that kind of attention from a gay teammate.

 

I mean, these guys aren't just some random bunch of people working out at a local gym who have never seen each other before...most of them have been playing team sports and dealing with lockerroom behavior since grade school - I really would like to think that any gay players would be "over it" at this stage in their professional lives, and aren't using the lockerroom as a meat market. (And besides, I think it's human nature to take the occasional peek - straight men certainly do it as much as gay men - it's only the homophobic guy that will perceive a casual glance as a personal threat. And yet, surely HE's checked out his teammates just as much - but he'd never admit it, even if it doesn't mean anything sexual, which it usually doesn't.)

[bakopanda]

Actually the school locker room has changed dramatically in the central area of California for the past three decades. P.E. is only required for 9th and 10th graders. My school district (16 high schools) does not offer free towel service nor hot water for showers. In fact, most of the time only a few of the showers have any water turned on. The boys wear sports briefs, instead of jocks and use a lot of body spray. The few that do undress use the surfer technique of changing while wrapped in a large beach towel. For sports, the boys go home to change and come back to school dressed in their uniforms. After practice/game, they go home in uniform.

 

Very few of the adult fitness/health clubs have locker rooms or locker rooms with showers in this part of California.

[Guest zipperzone]

>Actually the school locker room has changed dramatically in

>the central area of California for the past three decades.

>P.E. is only required for 9th and 10th graders. My school

>district (16 high schools) does not offer free towel service

>nor hot water for showers. In fact, most of the time only a

>few of the showers have any water turned on. The boys wear

>sports briefs, instead of jocks and use a lot of body spray.

>The few that do undress use the surfer technique of changing

>while wrapped in a large beach towel. For sports, the boys go

>home to change and come back to school dressed in their

>uniforms. After practice/game, they go home in uniform.

>

>Very few of the adult fitness/health clubs have locker rooms

>or locker rooms with showers in this part of California.

 

All this is a very sad commentary on the state of the American male mind in todays society.

 

Such homophobia is constantly being fueled by the occupant of the very highest office in the land. What chance is there for acceptance of gays under these circumstances? - Hell they aren't even good enough to serve in the military - fuckin' faggots

[Guest zipperzone]

>Tell us how you really feel about gays was the reaction today

>regarding former NBA player Tim Hardaway comments on playing

>with a gay team mate.

>

>Of course, once the press got wind of his views, he

>immediately apologized.

>

>http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6473866

 

I dodn't call that an apology. All he said was that he was sorry he SAID it. That did not retract his attitude towards gays.

 

Some guys should practice a round of "straight bashing" on him some dark and cloudy night, just to show him how much fun it can be.

[Louis]

Go to his house, and drag him to down to some BDSM place...the boys there will know how to handle him...:-)

[Guest ReturnOfS]

Thank you NBA.

 

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

 

NBA rebukes Tim Hardaway for anti-gay rant

BY BARRY JACKSON AND STEVE ROTHAUS

 

 

The NBA today removed Tim Hardaway from its All-Star weekend activities, a day after he said, ''I hate gay people'' in a radio interview with a Miami Herald sports columnist.

 

The NBA canceled all of Hardaway's assignments this weekend, including an appearance as an ''NBA legend'' at the YMCA of Southern Nevada and participation in the NBA's community caravan leading up to Sunday's All-Star game in Las Vegas.

 

''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 issued by the league.

 

Hardaway issued an apology several hours after making the comments on The Dan LeBatard Show on 790 The Ticket. ''Yes, I regret it,'' he told WSVN-Channel 7. ``I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that.''

 

Members of gay organizations reacted swiftly to Hardaway's comments.

 

''Obviously, I'm disappointed in Tim Hardaway being that Tim Hardaway was one of my favorite basketball players,'' said Donnell Morris, managing director of Black Gay Pride of South Florida. ``It creates a hostile environment for any player contemplating coming out of the closet.''

 

He added: ``For Tim to be a person from Miami where there has always been a diverse community, he should have been more sensitive to his environment. . . . I've always looked up to Tim as a leader. For him to take a stance that way really hurts me.''

 

Steve Adkins, president of the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said Hardaway's apology makes no difference. 'It is a very simple process to say `no' or 'I'd rather not comment' than to go on the record and make malicious and bigoted statements,'' Adkins said.

 

``. . . Let's just say I'm very disappointed that if someone in this day and age has these kinds of feelings, they're not intelligent enough to keep them to themselves. Beyond that, there is no place in our society for that kind of hatred and bigotry. End of story.''

 

Hardaway played for the Heat from 1995 through 2001 and has owned several businesses since retiring, including a car wash establishment in Coral Gables and a chicken wings restaurant in Coconut Grove. Hardaway played for five teams and was a five-time All-Star, averaging 17.7 points and 8.2 assists.

[+ deej]

He might like it. }(

[+ purplekow]

>

>I dodn't call that an apology. All he said was that he was

>sorry he SAID it. That did not retract his attitude towards

>gays.

>

Would you really believe it if he did take some sort of stand in retracting this hateful statement? I am sure he is sorry he said it because he it cost him money and a job. This man is not likely to change his attitude in 100 years let alone 24 hours, so I for one accept that he is sorry he said it and hope he leads a publicly silent life from now on. His singular opinion is meaningless to me, but I am grateful to the NBA for firing his ass and proving spoken ignorance has consequences.

 

In some ways having someone say something so hateful and ignorant outloud almost forces people who have never said it but have thought it, to hear it, the ignorance and maybe reconsider.

 

As for the lockerroom. My guess is most gay teens are struggling mightily with their sexuality and they may be among the least likely guys to look, lest they draw unwanted attention to themselves.

[Guest RandyRon]

>Actually the school locker room has changed dramatically in

>the central area of California for the past three decades.

>P.E. is only required for 9th and 10th graders. My school

>district (16 high schools) does not offer free towel service

>nor hot water for showers. In fact, most of the time only a

>few of the showers have any water turned on. The boys wear

>sports briefs, instead of jocks and use a lot of body spray.

>The few that do undress use the surfer technique of changing

>while wrapped in a large beach towel. For sports, the boys go

>home to change and come back to school dressed in their

>uniforms. After practice/game, they go home in uniform.

>

>Very few of the adult fitness/health clubs have locker rooms

>or locker rooms with showers in this part of California.

>

 

Good Lord! Where do you live, in Pat Robertson's back yard? This sounds like the most uptight Puritanical area in the US.

 

Sorry to get off the track of this thread. My view is that Hardaway is a typical hate monger that will never change. It's good that he expressed it so we can watch out for this type. Just like in Nazi Germany, we have to be alert to this type, and I think there are a lot of them in the US. Even more will get on the Hate Bandwagon if they think it's acceptable with the majority.

[Guest]

Is he still playing, or has he retired?

[Louis]

"Is he still playing, or has he retired?"

No He's RETARDED....:-(

[Guest PWIT]

He is retired. Still, being banned from NBA functions is a big deal for people who live on their legacy.

[Guest]

Would he have been a hall of fame candidate?

[Rick Munroe]

Charles Barkley on gays in the NBA, homophobia, etc: "It's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard anyone say, especially coming from a black person." http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=512940338

[Guest zipperzone]

>He is retired. Still, being banned from NBA functions is a

>big deal for people who live on their legacy.

 

I'm not sure if he has been banned from ALL future NBA functions or if just from the one this weekend in Las Vegas. Does anyone know for sure?

[Guest carter07]

Keep in mind that the African-American community in general is hostile to homosexuality. So Hardaway, not surprisingly perhaps, reflects this attitude. This has something to do with the nature of the black religious experience and is something of a cultural thing. In the Anglican Communion, for instance, the most rabidly opposed to the U.S. Episcopal Church's ordination of a gay bishop are Anglican bishops in Africa; right-wing disoceses in the U.S. (that also reject women as clergy) are affiliating with these African bishops.

 

This homophobia is ignorant and wrong. But as someone hinted, it is an attitude in in the black community in particular that is unlikely to change in this century.

[Rick Munroe]

As Wanda Sykes said to Ellen: "Gay is the new black."

 

http://www.tmz.com/2007/01/27/wanda-gay-is-the-new-black/

[Guest ReturnOfS]

Good point, but don't forget that being gay is something that affects all races. For those who think that being gay and being african-american, for example, are mutally exclusive, I suggest that you look up Bayard Rustin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin ) and Audre Lorde ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde ) . Tim Hardaway could benefit from looking up these two.

[Guest carter07]

You and Rick make good points. As the bi father of a gay son, I'm well aware that homosexuality is racially an equal opportunity employer. Perhaps I'm a bit more sensitive to the point, being in a small Midwestern city. I shudder to think what it might be like to be gay, black and living in the rural South.

[Charlus]

I shudder to think what it might be like to be straight, white, and living in the rural south.