Former NBA basketball center John Amaechi announced that he is gay in his book Man in the Middle. After that announcement, former NBA Miami Heat player Tim Hardaway went on a tirade about hating gay people, etc.
After his rant, NBA Commissioner David Stern removed him from his duties at the NBA All-Star activities this weekend in Las Vegas. Anti-gay Hardaway sympathizers have proclaimed this is a violation of his free speech rights.
I found the following comment on a message board:
About freedom of speech — The constitution guarantees protection from government action, not public reaction. Yeah, Tim's taking heat for what he said, but can take comfort in the fact he wasn't hauled off by the police.I couldn't have explained it better myself.
About political correctness — People seem to think this is a liberal invention. We've always had political correctness. Thirty years ago it was "politically correct" to say what Tim said or worse.
Recap of Hardaway's comments:
"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known," Hardaway said. "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."*
Hardaway was a guest of Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard on Miami sports radio station WAXY-AM and was asked how he would deal with a gay teammate. When asked if he would accept an active player's coming out, such as that of retired NBA center John Amaechi, Hardaway replied: "First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team.
"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's right. And you know I don't think he should be in the locker room while we're in the locker room. I wouldn't even be a part of that," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment