Former NBA center John Amaechi, who disclosed last week he's gay, tells the AP today that the anti-gay comments by retired player Tim Hardaway "demonstrate the need to continue the conversation." Hardaway said on a radio show Wednesday that he hates gay people, then later apologized for his remarks.
"I don't need Tim's comments to realize there's a problem," Amaechi says. "People said that I should just shut up and go away - now they have to rethink that."
If he did find out that a teammate was gay, Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.
"Something has to give," Hardaway said. "If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."
Responds Amaechi: "His words pollute the atmosphere. It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It's an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people."