Posted on 02/15/2007 7:32:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge
The NBA banished Tim Hardaway from All-Star weekend in Las Vegas because of his anti-gay remarks. Hardaway, who played in five All-Star games during the 1990s, was already in Las Vegas to make a series of public appearances this week on behalf of the league. But after saying, "I hate gay people" during a radio interview, commissioner David Stern stepped in.
"We removed him from representing us because we didn't think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us," Stern told reporters Thursday at the opening of a fan festival at a Las Vegas casino, part of the NBA's All-Star weekend.
Stern said he had not spoken with Hardaway, who left Las Vegas on Thursday, but he planned to do so.
While Stern said a discussion about openly gay players could be part of future rookie orientation programs, he doesn't see a need to address the league.
"This is an issue overall that has fascinated America. It's not an NBA issue," Stern said, pointing to the ongoing debate over gay marriage at the state and federal levels.
"This is a country that needs to talk about this issue," he said. "And, not surprisingly, they use sports as a catalyst to begin the dialogue."
Hardaway apologized for his comments, which came a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to say he was gay.
"As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause," Hardaway said Thursday in a statement issued by his agent. "I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.
"I especially apologize to my fans, friends and family in Miami and Chicago. I am committed to examining my feelings and will recognize, appreciate and respect the differences among people in our society," he said. "I regret any embarrassment I have caused the league on the eve of one of their greatest annual events."
The NBA brings in many former players to take part in various All-Star events. Hardaway had already represented the league in Las Vegas earlier this week at a Habitat for Humanity event and a fitness promotion. The former U.S. Olympian was also scheduled to be an assistant coach at a wheelchair game Thursday night and later appear at the fan-oriented Jam Session until Stern told him he was no longer welcome.
"His views are not consistent with ours," Stern said.
Amaechi, who spent five seasons with four teams, came out last week in advance of the release of his autobiography, "Man in the Middle." He is the sixth professional male athlete from one of the four major U.S. sports — basketball, baseball, football, hockey — to openly discuss his homosexuality.
Though Stern said last week a player's sexuality wasn't important, Hardaway disagreed Wednesday on a Miami radio show.
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team," the former Miami Heat star said. "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."
When show host Dan Le Batard told Hardaway those comments were "flatly homophobic" and "bigotry," the player continued.
"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. "I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
Hardaway also said if he did find out that a teammate was gay, he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.
Hardaway apologized later Wednesday night in a telephone interview with WSVN-TV in Miami, but the furor over his remarks continued Thursday.
"I don't need Tim's comments to realize there's a problem," Amaechi told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday. "People said that I should just shut up and go away — now they have to rethink that."
Two major gay and lesbian groups denounced Hardaway's remarks.
"Hardaway's comments are vile, repulsive, and indicative of the climate of ignorance, hostility and prejudice that continues to pervade sports culture," said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "And by apologizing not for his bigotry, but rather for giving voice to it, he's reminding us that this ugly display is only the tip of a very large iceberg."
Said Matt Foreman, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "Hardaway is a hero to thousands of young people. And that's what makes his comments so troubling. Sadly, his words simply put the pervasive homophobia in the NBA on the table."
Amaechi, who detailed his life in "Man in the Middle," hoped his coming out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse.
"His words pollute the atmosphere," Amaechi said. "It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It's an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people."
Amaechi taped a spot Thursday for PBS' gay and lesbian program "In the Life." He said the anti-gay sentiment remains despite Hardaway's apology.
"It's vitriolic, and may be exactly what he feels," he said. "Whether he's honest or not doesn't inoculate us from his words. It's not progress to hear hateful words."
So much for "free speech"
He's probably wishin' he had started a brawl with a drunken fan in the stands.
That would be far more acceptable than his pesky opinion.
Guess he should have gone after those dang Catholics. < sarcasm off >
And a 6 game suspension.
My thoughts exactly. Next they will banish anyone who openly speaks of Christ.
"My thoughts exactly. Next they will banish anyone who openly speaks of Christ."
It's coming. Under the category of hate speech.
He got to say what he said. Nobody stopped him or is stopping him from speaking. He san say whatever he wants and anyone else can say what they want.
But, unless he owns the NBA or Nike or whatever they can tell him to take a hikeand fire him. It's just like it works here. For example, I hate that queer men have anal sex then oral sex with each other. Or, more accurately, I think it's really gross. Now, if the owners of FR don't like that they can ban me. This is their sand box.
When I was younger I met 100's of queer men (I'm straight). Most of them were self-loathing and self-destructive. Being gay or queer or whatever really sucked (no pun). I met several that would not be queer if they could stop. My personal opinion is that they are born queer.
You know that is coming.
BTW - you are now banned from FreeRepublic.
:)
Just curious...what line of work were you in when you were younger?
"My personal opinion is that they are born queer"
You are no more born queer than you are born a serial killer. Or child molester. Or a cigarette smoker. It is a choice they make.
You could use the excuse "I was born this way" to get away with anything you wanted.
I wasn't, I was in high school. My best friend's father became sexually "confused" when I was about 16. It was pretty weird because not only was his dad odd my friends sister was a lesbian. His mom was, simply put, drunk most of the time. And I could not blame her.
Anyway, they were a well off family with a huge house and they had many parties where all the guys at the party were queers. Besides that, my friends father opened up a business in "the Montrose" area of Houston which is queer central in Houston. So my buddy and I were down there a lot. Because of this I met a lot of queer men. From the flaming lisping queens to the leather biker types that were pretty scary. Overall, they were a pathetic lot. My buddy's father let a few of them run the business he started, the robbed him like crazy and he knew it.
Some of the wild drunken parties at my friends house were interesting. Usually, almost all of the guys hit on me or my buddy. We'd just laugh at them or as I did one time I picked one up who grabbed my backside and I threw him in the pool. Remember that I was 16 at the time and these guys were trying like crazy to do "whatever" to me. That's another thing I learned, queers can't keep their hands off young guys.
I got to know several of them pretty well, I didn't really like any of them because they were such a sad lot. One of my favorite things to do at parties was to ask them how they could "stick this in to that then in to that!"?? They didn't like that because they don't want straight people thinking about the sick stuff queers do. They's rather we talk about the lovey-dovey relationship stuff. This is something that the queers and the media have carefully crafted for decades. Just imagine if the TV show "Queer Eye for The Straight Guy" went from being funny to the fags grabbing each other and tongue kissing. Their ratings would tank.
If instead of he hated gays Hardaway said he found queer anal and oral sex to be sickening he'd probably not have much blow-back (maybe a little pun) from the gay community and whatnot. Because that's the kind of things they do not want discussed in public. It's difficult for them to counter such things. They want to keep those kinds of discussions off the radar.
While some might not agree with me I really do think most queer men are born wired that way. I think my friends sister, the lesbian, was too. But I'm not sure about many of her girlfriends though which were the "non butch" types in the relationship. My friends sister hated men. just hated them. But she did come in handy since she always had a stack of Playboys hidden under her bed. Hey, I was 16 at the time:)
Frankly, as far as I'm concerned Hardaway said something I don't find to be a big deal because I think I understand what he meant. He just said it wrong and there will be hell to pay for it.
Just point me to the YouTube video.......
So they were born that way? God made them gay? It is God's fault? I guess now your going to say that because God made them that way then they are not in sin for being that way?
Romans Chapter 1:18-27 answers the question of why people lust after their own gender.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom%201:18-27;&version=31;
We all need to 'hate' sin as God hates sin. In Erwin Lutzer's message, "One Minute After You Die", he states that as we pass from this mortal life into the immortal life, we all will finally see sin as God sees sin. This will be for the believer AND the unbeliever. This depraved human shell around our God created spirit has a way of softening the sharp edges of sin. For the unbeliever, every tongue will confess, every knee will bow that Jesus is Lord, and they will be in full agreement of how they have violated His statutes. Their reward of banishment from His presence will be just and they will know it.
Oddly, that was my first reaction.
I can't speak for God and would not attempt to. All I can tell you is the truth about what I saw.
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