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12 Feb 2007

ex-NBA player john amaechi comes out

Former professional basketball player John Amaechi has made history by becoming the first National Basketball Association (NBA) player to ever come out and talk about his life and experiences as an athlete and a gay man in the homophobic world of professional sports.

Becoming only the sixth professional male athlete from one of the four major US sports - basketball, baseball, football and hockey - to openly discuss his homosexuality, John Amaechi has been named a national spokesperson for a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) project aimed at helping LGBT people come out and live openly gay.

Top: tennis champion Martina Navratilova, WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes and diver Greg Louganis. The most notable professional athlete to have come out while still competing is tennis star and outspoken lesbian activist Martina Navratilova whose 168 Single's Titles outnumber any other player, male or female. She came out in 1981. More recently in 2005, Sheryl Swoopes, one of women's basketball's biggest stars became the third openly gay player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) after former WNBA player Michele Van Gorp came out while being an active player in July 2004. In 2002, Sue Wicks became the first active WNBA player to acknowledge that she was gay shortly before she retired.
The 36-year-old, who spent five seasons with four teams before retiring from sport three years ago, is now a TV personality in England. His announcement comes in advance of the release of his book Man In The Middle, in which he chronicles his NBA career and directly addresses the travails of being a closeted professional athlete.

Like Amaechi, the other five male professional athletes - football players David Kopay, Esera Tuaolo and Roy Simmons, and baseball players Billy Bean and the late Glenn Burke - came out after their careers ended. Kopay was the first retired athlete to come out in 1977 with his book, The David Kopay Story. Other well-known gay male athletes are American Greg Louganis, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in diving, who announced that he is gay in 1994 and HIV-positive the year after; and Australian rugby player Ian Roberts became the first major sports personality in Australia to come out in 1995.

Raised in Manchester, England, the 2.08-metre tall former player is the only British player to have an NBA career playing for the Houston Rockets, the Orlando Magic, the Utah Jazz and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"John is making history this week, becoming the first NBA player to ever come out and talk about his life and experiences as an athlete and a gay man," said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

"In sharing his story, our great hope is that John will pave the way for more GLBT and straight athletes to openly support fairness and respect on and off the playing field."

While the news has sparked a flurry of discussion, not all were positive as some newspaper commentators were unimpressed with Amaechi's announcement.

Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle blasted the decision by all six professional players to come out after retirement: "John Amaechi, four years removed from life in the NBA, came out of the closet last week, becoming part of the most ridiculous statistic in sports. He is the sixth male athlete from a major pro league ever to say publicly that he is gay. Six of those six, a profoundly imperfect 100 percent, waited until after retirement to reveal the truth about themselves."

"If Amaechi really wanted to be the pioneer he envisions, he would have written the book and outed himself while he was still playing basketball," Doug Robinson wrote in Deseret Morning News.

Amaechi however says he hopes to make a difference to people and promote the importance of living openly and honestly.

"Living more openly in the later years of my NBA career was one of the things that radically changed my life. It made me happier. I want to spread my influence in the same way that I was able to because I had a basketball in my hand. I hope now to have perhaps a different lectern to stand behind but with an equally important message."

As spokesperson for the HRC's coming out project, Amaechi will promote the importance of being out and living openly and honestly while traveling around the country to promote his autobiography. He also has set up a blog with HRC at www.hrc.org/amaechi that will allow people to share their coming out stories.

讀者回應

1. 2007-02-12 19:48  
The US looks like it's a very bad place for famous male personalities to come out. John Amaechi is English... as is Ian Mckellen and Rupert Murdoch and Elton John. In the US, there's Ellen Degeneres, Melissa Etheridge, where did the men go?

2. 2007-02-12 21:13  
i was in the swimming team in my collage and i was out, but there where a lot of problems. yes i do feel better because i didnt have to hide my sexuality, and my teammates where all supportive to me, but when other teams hear about me, most of them treated me like im a dirt on an alley way......

but beating those kind of people with their own game was the one thing i loved most.

i have a lot of respect for people who come out. and i do think that its better to come out while still playing and not like when you retire then come out.....
i think its kinda unfair. in a way, its just like trying to get attention.......
3. 2007-02-12 21:41  
Good one, Amaechi :-) ! Better late than never :-)!
4. 2007-02-12 21:49  
Martina Navratilova~
5. 2007-02-12 21:49  
I think this article shows gay-relations in the US. People often wonder why homosexuality is not as accepted as it is in other western nations. A large, if not primary reason for this is the American gay community. Instead of celebrated these sport celebrities, they attack them for not doing more. What is the incentive for doing anything then? As an American, I have to say the American gay leaders certainly do not speak for me or for most American gays; they are far too extreme and as a result, hurt their own cause.
6. 2007-02-12 22:41  
Amaechi's coming out smacks of classic oppotunism, i.e. another guy using his homosexuality to make a few bucks. let's see, how many other NBA players with only a six-year career with four teams can get a book deal? A "celebrity" in the UK? PLEAZE, don't make me barf. The last paragraph says it all: he'll be "promoting importance of living honestly" (in the comfort of retirement) "while promoting his autobiography." Don't fall for this hypocrite's game by buying his book.
7. 2007-02-12 22:53  
chris webber is gay too?
8. 2007-02-12 23:45  
I agree with what subaltern says. Gay "culture" in this country's own gay print is pretty well centered on drag-queen-and-musclemen parades, in-your-race radicals and an apologist media. Loose sexual morals are the only way to go with this crowd, and if you dare disagree with their so-called "wisdom", you are shunned. Our "so called leaders speak...(and) subjigate the meek", to borrow a lyric from the Police.
9. 2007-02-13 09:50  
"In the US, there's Ellen Degeneres, Melissa Etheridge, where did the men go?"

Well, there's my fave BD Wong. Then of course there is Neil Patrick Harris, Wilson Cruz, Chad Allen... shall I continue? :)
10. 2007-02-13 11:58  
Those paper columnists have no business to criticise Amaechi for coming out after retirement. It's his decision.

I take no pride nor suffer any shame in coming out. It's just a statement we all have the choice to make.

11. 2007-02-13 12:00  
Well, Chad Allen, Neil Patrick Harris and Wilson Cruz are nowhere half as famous as Ellen Degeneres, Melissa Etheridge outside the US. Maybe BD Wong is more well known in Asia because he's Asian-American...
12. 2007-02-13 12:14  
better late than never indeed.. everyone's got different priorities at diff stages of their lives.. n coming out is probably the most personal n individual decision one makes in life..

he may make a few quick bucks from this.. but it's also an opportunity for the hrc and other glbt associations to gain visibility..
publicity like this surely lends fuel to the cause.. it's up to everyone involved to make it a win-win situation..
回應#13於被作者刪除。
回應#14於被作者刪除。
回應#15於被作者刪除。
16. 2007-02-13 13:52  
A lot of interesting commentary on the Net:

IF IT SOUNDS like a bombshell, smells like a bombshell and feels like a bombshell, it must be a bombshell.

Unless it's another male athlete announcing he is gay after he's in the cozy confines of retirement.

Talkin' 'bout you, John Amaechi.

The former NBA player went on ESPN today to talk about his homosexual lifestyle, his journey through locker rooms, his personal acquaintances and, of course, his new book.

That Amaechi has come forward is perceived by many to be an act of courage. As if Amaechi, after so many years on the Down Low, now might spend the rest of his life with a scarlet "G" stamped on his forehead.

Which risks ... what?

Amaechi's decision to come out of the closet now carries virtually zero risk. It is about win-win as it gets for someone in his position. He has had his playing career, for what it was worth, and expresses no intention or desire to return to the NBA. As a 36-year-old retiree, he can speak his mind.

from Inside Bay Area http://origin.insidebayarea.com/sports/ci_5206227


Amaechi's personal life doesn't change the debate on gays in professional team sports, if there ever was one.

Amaechi is the first NBA player to identify himself as gay. He will tell all in his upcoming book, "Man in the Middle."

Of course, calling Amaechi an NBA player is sort of like calling Paris Hilton a recording artist. The 6-foot-10 Amaechi averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 294 games in five seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz. He was traded to Houston during his final season but never played.

Most NBA fans, much less casual sports fans, have never heard of John Amaechi.

Only a superstar revealing he is gay in one of the three major sports will matter. Only then will teammates, management and fans be exposed as open-minded, bigoted or something squeamish in between.

Only Magic Johnson's revealing he was HIV positive changed people's attitudes about that disease.

People cared about Johnson. The NBA and the Los Angeles Lakers had a financial investment in him. Teammates, opposing players and fans had an emotional investment in him.

No one cares Amaechi is gay because no one cares about him. He's not even an active player.

Moreover, Amaechi's intentions aren't totally altruistic.

from The Washington Times [click here]
17. 2007-02-13 15:39  
honestly, times are changing. I dont think we can really judge his choice.

Also, one more question: does it really matter? His job was a basketball player. It was not to be English, Black, or gay. Obviously being English (he is english right?) and Black are easy to see, not his homosexuality. I just dont think his homosexuality is a big deal. It didn't affect his game.
18. 2007-02-13 17:24  
Three cheers for people - athletes, priests, teachers, police officers, sons and daughters, etc. who have the courage and conviction to come out as gay. Three louder cheers for the people around who accept and love them as they are. All doctrines and talks about love are false unless they can embrace all beings regardless of sexes.
19. 2007-02-13 19:23  
I agree with subaltern's sensible comments. Why is being gay such an issue for so many gay people??!! Why is having to "declare it" such an issue? I grew up as a gay teenager in the 60s. I was not overtly gay, but never hid my homosexuality from friends and moved into a gay relationship at the age of 19.
Being gay was just a part of what I was and even in those days, my friends accepted it. The ranting gay activists who place so much emphasis on being gay first, with everything else incidental, do more harm than good.
20. 2007-02-13 23:31  
Quote boglua123 "Why is being gay such an issue for so many gay people??!! Why is having to "declare it" such an issue? " its probably because of the views of society and how society may treat you as being gay...

Quote subaltern "People often wonder why homosexuality is not as accepted as it is in other western nations"
---Might i mention that a couple of articles i googgled upon mentioned that if it wasn't for western influence during the early generations, that homosexuality would probably be more accepting in asian society in comparison to western society. as in the olden days, china did have gay brothels (i have no idea what they are called). it was till western influence that homosexuality started becoming an issue

but either way.. if society made it easier ... more homosexuals would come out. we arent suppose to care but be proud.. but its the look in a person's eyes that judges another that probably hurts the most as the eyes cant lie.
21. 2007-02-13 23:35  
if only, being gay is a social norm... we did not "come out"

22. 2007-02-14 01:43  
it's an issue because.. when i go out for dinner with my date tonight... during those moments of silence when i'm chewing on my orgasmically yummy slices of sashimi.. i'll be looking around.. picking out the str8 couples staring at us and the smirking waiters. at times i'll be conscious bout being judged.. shying from colleagues or clients who might be there.. deprived of truly enjoying a special moment just because across from me is another guy n not some hot chick..
23. 2007-02-14 02:46  
To tornangel, if you quote someone, please make a full quote. I hope they taught you this in school. I was referring to my country, the USA, not Asian countries. It is the standard stereotype, even here in TWN, that the US is the most anti-homosexual western nation. I was not making any comments otherwise. If I had made a comment about Asian nations, it would be rather illogical as the article deals with a basketball player in the US. Please stay on topic!!!

24. 2007-02-14 11:01  
quote Kellen:
... as is Ian Mckellen and Rupert Murdoch and Elton John.

Rupert Murdoch, the patriarchal Sun wielding sob is gay? That IS news..

This NBA guy, as everyone puts it, is just absurdly opportunistic. He is in effect asking current pro players to put their careers on the line when he hadn't the courage to do so.

quote subaltern:

the US is the most anti-homosexual western nation.

I don't think people think that the US is terribly anti-homo. We do have NBC to thank for Will&Grace and HBO for Sex and the City. Although the west wing is staffed with right wing fundamentalist christian GOPers who think we should burn in hell, we have the Democrats to put things right!
25. 2007-02-14 12:10  
skyggen957: Rupert Murdoch, the patriarchal Sun wielding sob is gay? That IS news..

Opps, what was I thinking? I meant Rupert Everett, but of course you would know that already...
26. 2007-02-14 12:45  
I played on my University Football team, Rugby team, and was on a lot of Track & Field teams... I was out. Although no-one every really knew that I was gay, it wasn't a secret for me, or for my teammates.
It was never something easy to overcome, but it always made our teams so much stronger. Lots of times there would be teams that would make fun of us, and call us 'pansies... etc...' and we'd just end up beating them in the end.

In regards to M. Amaechi, why is it so difficult to be out during a professional carreer? It would be no different than being out here in Taiwan, or anywhere else in the world. If I'm happy with someone, or feel like I should do something with a person, whether it be hold hands, kiss, or have sex with them, it's no-ones positoin to tell me that what I'm doing is wrong.

As for people who look at me for what I do, what do I care? Am I not my own person, can I not make my own decisions? I'm confident enough in myself to not be weary by these people.

Yes, coming out is a personal choice, and it means a lot to so many people. However, straight people don't 'come out', why should we? I just live my life like it is. I'm not the "weird" person, whether or not people like to think I am.

I've got accomplishments, that can not be erased because I am a homosexual, or for any other reason. I'm proud of myself, and proud of all those people who are proud of themselves.


Don't make such a big deal out of something that shouldn't be made a spectacle.

~~Bijan
27. 2007-02-14 13:48  
next: ian thorpe...

hehe...
28. 2007-02-14 17:07  
I would like to applaud John for his openmindedness and hope his stand for what are his beliefs will encourage others to become role models in society
29. 2007-02-14 17:18  
Well done to Amaechi......
who next?? hehehe
30. 2007-02-16 19:56  
what is ian the torpedo thorpe next?
no........
31. 2007-02-16 22:34  
It is always good to have one more come out of the closet to let people or us know our true population.

I always think we should be proud of ourselves and unite together. Team efforts is always better than individuals fighting alone.

I am so glad to see that at present so many of us are doing something in some way somewhere for gay cause. Keep it going! One day we will achieve true equality and social acceptance of gays.
32. 2007-02-17 14:15  
I cannot help but wonder if money motivated Amaechi to remain silent while still an NBA player and money motivated him to come out.
33. 2007-02-17 17:32  
Bravo! Props to him. Who is next? Marat Safin? hee hee
34. 2007-02-20 16:17  
Good cover! Inspiring.

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