"I hate gay people"
"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. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
These are the words of former NBA star Tim Hardaway, in response to a question of how he would handle a gay teammate.
If my blog is the first you’ve heard of this, then let me thank you for making my blog one of your first stops, but I don’t imagine that’s very many people if anyone.
Regardless, Tim Hardaway’s rant on Dan Le Batard’s Miami talk radio show is a sign of a problem in the United States. Homophobia and the inability of reasonable people to see hatred of gays as any different than hatred of blacks or Jews or Latinos.
Change the quote to this: “You know, I hate black people, so I let it be known. I don’t like black people and I don’t like to be around black people. I don’t like it. They shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”
If this were said, there would be nobody who would possibly agree with it, and otherwise reasonable-minded people, which Tim Hardaway probably is, would find these quotes despicable. However, when this quote is about gay people, you can find plenty of people, that while they may not be willing to go as far as Hardaway did, they obviously have similar feelings they’re unwilling to voice for fear of being ostracized.
It’s the same as if you walk through any high school hallway, which I do everyday as a high school teacher. Students have no problem throwing around the word “gay” as derogatory, just as they have no problem calling someone a “fag.”
However, most of these same students would be offended at what you said if you threw around racial epithets the same way they throw around these terms.
The other thing that bothers me almost as much as the actual statements themselves is that, as usual, he gave an apology, calling it “his mistake” later that day in another interview. When someone comes out and says “I hate gay people,” they’re very clear. There’s nothing to apologize for. I understand when someone says something because they’re naïve and don’t realize it will be offensive. There’s no naïveté involved in saying “[Gays] shouldn’t be in the world or the United States.” That’s straight-up bigotry. Tim Hardaway isn’t sorry he’s a bigot. He’s sorry that he lost his job with the NBA and that people will look at him in a negative light. His image is and should be tarnished.
This is America. So obviously, he has the right to say this and he has the right to feel how he wants to about homosexuals. But we also have the right to judge him as a bigot and a person who has shown what a small mind he has.
Some people make the point as to why we care about what athletes say. We care because sports are a microcosm of society. Maybe not always completely accurate as to the rest of society, but in those locker rooms of basketball teams and football teams and baseball teams are people who represent all that is good and bad about our society. When bad things exist in the mind of those athletes, it usually means it exists outside in our society as well.
These are the words of former NBA star Tim Hardaway, in response to a question of how he would handle a gay teammate.
If my blog is the first you’ve heard of this, then let me thank you for making my blog one of your first stops, but I don’t imagine that’s very many people if anyone.
Regardless, Tim Hardaway’s rant on Dan Le Batard’s Miami talk radio show is a sign of a problem in the United States. Homophobia and the inability of reasonable people to see hatred of gays as any different than hatred of blacks or Jews or Latinos.
Change the quote to this: “You know, I hate black people, so I let it be known. I don’t like black people and I don’t like to be around black people. I don’t like it. They shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”
If this were said, there would be nobody who would possibly agree with it, and otherwise reasonable-minded people, which Tim Hardaway probably is, would find these quotes despicable. However, when this quote is about gay people, you can find plenty of people, that while they may not be willing to go as far as Hardaway did, they obviously have similar feelings they’re unwilling to voice for fear of being ostracized.
It’s the same as if you walk through any high school hallway, which I do everyday as a high school teacher. Students have no problem throwing around the word “gay” as derogatory, just as they have no problem calling someone a “fag.”
However, most of these same students would be offended at what you said if you threw around racial epithets the same way they throw around these terms.
The other thing that bothers me almost as much as the actual statements themselves is that, as usual, he gave an apology, calling it “his mistake” later that day in another interview. When someone comes out and says “I hate gay people,” they’re very clear. There’s nothing to apologize for. I understand when someone says something because they’re naïve and don’t realize it will be offensive. There’s no naïveté involved in saying “[Gays] shouldn’t be in the world or the United States.” That’s straight-up bigotry. Tim Hardaway isn’t sorry he’s a bigot. He’s sorry that he lost his job with the NBA and that people will look at him in a negative light. His image is and should be tarnished.
This is America. So obviously, he has the right to say this and he has the right to feel how he wants to about homosexuals. But we also have the right to judge him as a bigot and a person who has shown what a small mind he has.
Some people make the point as to why we care about what athletes say. We care because sports are a microcosm of society. Maybe not always completely accurate as to the rest of society, but in those locker rooms of basketball teams and football teams and baseball teams are people who represent all that is good and bad about our society. When bad things exist in the mind of those athletes, it usually means it exists outside in our society as well.
Labels: bigotry, Tim Hardaway
posted by Matt at 12:59 PM
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