John Amaechi has opened up the debate over gays in pro sports with the publication of his book "Man in the Middle." I spoke with him this week about a wide range of topics for a forthcoming article but am giving the readers of Out In Hollywood another sneak peak.
John tells me that the real heroes are the athletes who have come out during their pro careers: "I think people like Martina [Navratilova] and Billie Jean King, they are brave beyond words whereas what I’m doing is just somethingpeople with good conscience should do when they are ready and able."
But he points out the lost endorsements for Navratilova and other out female athletes who have dominated their sport and might otherwise be darlings of Madison Avenue.
"Sheryl Swoops, the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball, and she’s sponsored by Olivia [Cruises]. This is not to demean Olivia but my God, the Michael Jordan women’s basketball should be front and center. She’s beautiful, she’s talented, she’s eloquent. So let’s not pretend it wouldn’t have any negative financial effects.
But it’s not just financial, it’s personal strength: "You need to be in a place of great resilence to do this, to perform on this knife edge just playing basketball but then to have all of these additional pressures of your responsbilities to the GLBT community, the responsibility to your team, to your teamates, to your owner, the fans. It’s massive walking onto the court and knowing that. When people call you the f-word, instead of that being just to emasculateyou, they actually mean they don’t like gay people."

It shows you what a gay athlete must endure: either stay in the closet with all the misery that entails, or come out and risk everything in order to be true to yourself. Gee, all Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway had to do during his career was go out and play basketball. Other than feeling compelled to cross the street whenever he sees a gay person, his life hadn't been all that bad in comparison.