Ithaca College is hosting a Sport and Sexuality Conference that began today and will run through tomorrow. There were several seminars and speakers, but the focal point of the whole conference was John Amaechi. For those of you unfamiliar as to who this individual is, let me share his background information. Amaechi is a former NBA player who has come out as a homosexual. Amaechi is now a psychologist and public speaker. I had heard Amaechi was a phenomenal speaker, and! tonight I was lucky enough to hear him speak. This blog is normally a sports blog dealing with on the field play and off the field transactions. I rarely discuss social or ideological points, but tonight I will share my experience of his speech. I will try and leave my opinion out as much as possible and strictly share the words he spoke. I will give my interpretations of his words, so I am sorry if they are slightly inaccurate.John Amaechi is a 6-foot 9-inch black Englishman. He talked about how he is perceived by many because he is a black man with an English accent. He said that people (black and white) have told him he is not a "true black" because England is supposed to be all white. Amaechi is also a black homosexual, something a large amount of people cannot fathom. In addition, let me remind you that Amaechi played the sport of basketball. That brings us to the center of this discussion. Homosexuality in sport. For those of you who think athletes are not capa! ble of being gay, you are wrong. 10% of all people are gay, an! d athlet es are included in this statistic.
Amaechi made it quite clear tonight that he does not enjoy sports. He played basketball because it was a job. Surprised? I was. He says he has not watched a basketball game all year. Amaechi considered
the basketball court a workplace.Amaechi was asked about how he was treated during his career and if his teammates and coaches knew if he was gay. Amaechi "came out" in England before he did in the United States. Reporters in the US knew he was gay, but did not write about it. Amaechi's teammates did know ! he was gay, and not a single one treated him differently or gave him distinct looks. The people Amaechi said that gave him these looks were his coaches, the training staff, the GM, and the owner. He made it quite clear that this is where the conflict exists. Not the players, but the coaches, owners, and front office personnel. Amaechi knows of several homosexual basketball players, and even knew two teammates that were a couple. Homosexuality is in sports and always has been. These athletes are not "feminine" or weak, they are no different from the heterosexual athletes. The game is not different because of homosexuality.
Amaechi also addressed comments made by former NBA star Tim Hardaway. For those of you who don't remember, Hardaway a few years ago live on radio stated how he "hates gays and just doesn't like them." He said it several times and later refused to apologize. Hardaway, in Amaechi's words is one of the few bigots that ruin this for the rest of us.
John Amaechi was not a loner. He is very good friends with Shaq and was always respected by his teammates. He played with the likes of Karl Malone and Tracy McGrady. Amaechi's story, in his words, is not special. He says one man or women is not going to change the perception of homosexuality in sports. He believes even if it is one of our biggest athletic heroes, it will not cause change. The mentality and notion itself needs to change. Amaechi used slavery as an analogy for this.
I understand this post is of deeper material then I normally write about, but I just want all of you to ! take a few minutes and just think about this topic. Just think about homosexuality in sport and the words you have just read. This post was only a brief summary of what was a two hour speech. I encourage you to read up more on Amaechi and this topic. There are many articles on both all over the web. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Amaechi speak I highly recommend you attend. He is a powerful speaker who is not afraid to discuss anything.
