John Amaechi

As most people have now noticed, John Amaechi has become the first current/former NBA player to openly say he is gay. Amaechi was only in the NBA for a few years, he had one good season which added up to a bad contract and he was out the league shortly thereafter. It seems everyone has an opinion on this issue, here are some of my thoughts:

-Amaechi's announcement is important, like it or not, he's paving the way for others.
-His timing really isn't that great. He's been out of the league for four years already. This has left him open to the criticism that money was a big motivator in the whole thing. However...
-After reading the reactions of players and many fans, coming out as a current NBA player would be murder. In a social climate where it is acceptable to call something or someone "gay" or "fag" or "queer" or whatever you like cannot be easy for any homosexual. Not only does this happen frequently, it is seldom stopped. It's acceptable. It's acceptable in the same way the "n word" was once acceptable and there is zero difference. None.
-LeBron James said: "With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy."
-Shavlik Randolph said: "As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine."
-Steven Hunter said: "Nowadays it's proven that people can live double lives. I watch a lot of TV, so I see a lot of sick perverted stuff about married men running around with gay guys and all types of foolishness."


If you were to take the homosexual theme from those quotes and substitute any race in there and players would be looking at massive fines, suspensions, their careers may be over. There is a huge double standard here and it's really too bad. So I don't buy the criticisms from people saying that Amaechi isn't really doing anything special because he's retired. Look at what he would have faced! Hopefully, he's just making it easier for those who come after him.