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The media and a lot of the Tim Hardaway lashers have gone out of their way to cause an uproar about this. There are some questions to ask though. Do their actions correspond with their negative spotlight on Hardaway? What would they do if their son or daughter came out? What are their true feelings?
Examples:
Lesbianism is rampant in the WNBA. Since it is an accurate measurement of a fraction of the league, why doesn't the WNBA ever speak of it on a public scale? They have a large number of lesbian fans, why not show women holding hands together in some of their commercials? If it's truly no problem to Stern, why avoid it?
The commentators and pundits all act presumably as if they have no problem with gays and feel they are just another demographic segment of society such as race or gender. What would their reaction be if their son or daughter came out they were gay? According to what they are saying, it should be a non-issue as they are just another person. However, everyone knows that is not the case.
Some of the commentators/media don't really say their personal feelings on gays, but criticize Hardaway and talk about how other players feel. Where do they stand if they were being truly candid?
If that's how Tim Hardaway feels, then I think he is a very honest person who is being portrayed or branded as a huge bigot by people that probably don't like gays either but are afraid of being outted. By definition of bigotry, Tim Hardaway is one, but I don't like the media playing the commentary card when some are not saying what they truly think or hiding what they truly think.
I have a problem with Tim Hardaway's comments for two reasons. 1 is he backed down from his comments. That was very weak. If you are going to be a hardass and say something controversial, you can't back down once you say it. 2 is he said he hates all gay people.
When you blanket statement a group of people like that, it's ignorant because you don't know every single one of them. I played on an intrammural basketball team with a guy in school and found out later he was gay. He was still the same nice guy to me when I found out he was gay, but he was just gay now. I thought of him differently because of what he did though. Nobody in mainstream media ever goes into this, but what gay guys actually do is pretty disgusting. But I can't hate the guy just because he is or wants to appear he is gay.
I've found out probably 9 or 10 people I knew personally whether at work or school were gay and I never hated any of them. I still thought they were the same person as far as being nice, organized, funny, disgruntled as before they were gay. I just thought of them differently for what they did behind closed doors.
I don't like this new advancement trend where you are wrong if you don't like gayness. I don't like the idea of being gay. I don't think people should be gay. I don't like people who claim to be Christians advocating or supporting gays. I have a problem with that because if you say you are Christian, you are supposed to be supporting Christian values, not gay values.
In society, I think people that choose to be gay should be accepted and not hated though. If a gay guy applies for my job and he outqualifies a straight guy, gay guy wins. But I don't want to have to adapt my company to where I have to have a Gay Day party because I had a Christmas party. And I'm not going to promote being gay because that's not how I believe people should be.
On the most fundamental aspect of the topic, my main problem is that people hide behind the curtains because they are afraid. Easier said than done right? Yeah, well the times have turned. John Amaechi is being promoted and put in the sunlight because he is diverse and gay and saying he is gay. Tim Hardaway is an evil villian who is being outcasted for saying he hates gays. Not too long ago, it was the exact opposite.
As I said before, I don't agree with gayness and I don't like gayness. I don't want my family to be gay. But, if I come across a gay person, I don't just hate them because they are gay. I could even see me being their friend. But I won't ever promote gay people or pretend like if 33% of America was gay that I would just be fine with that.
