Former NBA Player Tim Hardaway "Hates Gay People"- Page 5

[Plum]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 11:01pm

I think George Takei wins for Best Response to this whole debacle. Search YouTube and you shall be rewarded.

[RadiGal2]

Posted: 2/19/07 at 2:41am

I appreciate Barkley and Miller, but let's face it --
until MJ comments one way or the other people will not shut about it.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/19/07 at 2:56am

Hardaway has apologized AGAIN:

"MIAMI -- Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway apologized again Sunday for his anti-gay remarks, telling a Miami television station that he "didn't mean" to say what he said in a South Florida radio interview last week.

Hardaway, in an interview at his home with CBS affiliate WFOR, acknowledged he made a major mistake by saying "I hate gay people" when asked how he would react to having a gay teammate.

"I don't hate gay people," Hardaway said. "I'm a goodhearted person. I interact with people all the time. ... I respect people. For me to say 'hate' was a bad word, and I didn't mean to use it."

Hardaway made the anti-gay comments Wednesday, a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to reveal his homosexuality. Hardaway said he didn't believe gay players should share a locker room with heterosexual players, then added, "I don't like gay people, and I don't like to be around gay people."

On Sunday, he acknowledged "that was very bad."

His remarks quickly drew criticism from both the NBA and several gay and lesbian groups, and Hardaway said the firestorm surprised him.

"It was like, you know, I had killed somebody. ... I never knew that this was going to escalate that high," Hardaway said.

Hardaway was banished from some NBA-sanctioned appearances he was scheduled to make in Las Vegas as part of the All-Star weekend. He also lost at least one of his endorsement deals, and he ordered his name dropped from advertising at a car wash he owns in Miami, saying he made that decision to ensure the safety of his employees.

Hardaway played parts of 13 NBA seasons with Golden State, Miami, Dallas, Denver and Indiana, and played in five All-Star games."



http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=sports&id=5046591

Updated On: 2/19/07 at 02:56 AM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 2/19/07 at 3:15am

I just don't get how anyone can say "I hate gay people" and then say "that's not what I meant." There wasn't much figurative language or room for speculation in such a solid short statement.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 10/26/07 at 11:37am

Bump.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/26/07 at 11:49am

Well, I have no idea why this was bumped, but since it was, here's an update:

"Former NBA Star Tim Hardaway Works Toward Understanding at Gay Children’s Advocacy Group

Article Date: 09/28/2007

By Dylan Vox

In a somewhat remarkable turn of events, former NBA player Tim Hardaway, who made waves when he gave his now infamous “I hate gay people” speech last winter, may be turning over a new leaf. The former Miami Heat guard has become an active part of a children’s advocacy group, which caters to the gay community.
Hardaway, who spent most of his time with the Heat during his professional career, retired in 2003, but was thrust back into the spotlight after his homophobic rant on the Dan Le Batard radio program in February. Le Batard talked about retired NBA center John Amaechi, who had recently come out of the closet, and Hardaway candidly bashed his decision.

"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. Second of all, if he was on my team, I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that's right and I don't think he should be in the locker room when we're in the locker room... 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."

The controversy persisted after Hardaway’s half-hearted apology later that day, but the backlash eventually dissipated.

Six months later ,unprompted by media attention or mandated by any sports counsel, Hardaway learned of the YES Institute in south Florida—which “seeks to prevent teen suicides while boosting the self-esteem of children and keeping them free of violence and discrimination.” The focus is mostly on gay and lesbian youth and Hardaway took it upon himself to visit the organization.

"I just wanted to go in and get educated, that's all. Get educated on what I said and why I said those things,' Hardaway told the Associated Press. "I'm working on understanding it now. I'm not really trying to make amends. I've been there trying to get help."

The Director of the organization Martha Fugate told SI.com that she didn’t believe he had been motivated by a publicity “quick fix” because he had declined interviews about his work with advocacy groups and had kept things very quiet. She believed that his motives were genuine and felt that he was truly trying to understand what he had done.

"I have taken steps and I'm happy that I did," Hardaway said. "If I didn't, I'd still be naive about it, ignorant about the whole thing. But I can talk about it now.”

There is of course no telling what his actual motives are, but hopefully as a role model people will look to him as an example and will learn the importance of tolerance."



http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?id=16672§ion=67

[Icehouse Life]

Posted: 10/26/07 at 3:25pm

It's good that he's taking steps to correct his ignorant stance.

But his notorious comments do deserve serious inquiry. To do that, I will utilize a personal ancedote from my painful not-too-distant past that will shed some light in this. As an early adolescent black male in my working class background around 11 to 15, I was taunted and teased by my fellow black peers, mostly male, largely because I spoke with seemingly soft and high-pitched voice. As I soon as I spoke, it was almost socially over for me. They laugh and snicker calling me "f*****" , which in their view was taking away one's manhood. For the record I'm not gay--I'm heterosexual. Once you have this label, it's almost entirely difficult to shed that. I was into different stuff than they were into. I didn't speak like many of them did, which is stretching out the vowels and speaking in a deep voice. It was the very first significant time in my life that I say or did was very different in an adversarial way; in its own perverse way, it affirms their own culture.

What they did is result of all of the series of indignities of being black and male in America. Many of them know they will not make it into the middle class lifestyle very early on. Historically ever since we were brought over involuntarily, we had to deal with unequal and substandard education, lack of lofty economic prospects, social disconnection from the mainstream and of meaningful democracy, lack of knowledge of multiculturism and critical thinking, lack of adequate health care, no hope, and no outlet to lay down their burdens. They have been humiliated and criminalized leading to the stresses and strains in their daily lives. In short, emasculated. As kids with an emerging sense of masculinity, they see anything that is not of their norms in their culture as against them. They must survive in the cruel world they were raised in in a myopic manner. In my case, they (and in Hardaway's case)view homosexuality as a sign of weakness, a very disturbing deficiency of black masculinity. None of this excuses what they did, but I hope this will shed some insight into why he said what he did. The NBA was also worried about strong protests from GLBT organizations since they know they have GLBT fans.