The San Francisco Chronicle spoke with John Amaechi by phone from London about being gay in the NBA. I must say, Tim "I hate gay people" Hardaway has unwittingly done more to promote Amaechi's book than anything else! And, thankfully, Amaechi is the polor opposite of Hardaway: intelligent and thoughtful.
Here are some of his latest remarks:
On religious players in the NBA who oppose homosexuality: ""It's not my place to get in the way of someone's relationship with God, with their God. That is their belief. However, if what you are actually talking about is Biblical literalism, and if that's the case, then I expect people who spout vitriol about gay people to have the same ire as they regard players who have guns under their seats, who smoke marijuana, who commit adultery."

On NBA players' overall attitudes: "I think that like most aspects of diversity, there's what they call the normal curve. You have the majority in the middle, and you have what I consider the enlightened view at the top and then you have the unenlightened Neanderthals at the bottom. And so no, [a tolerant] Charles Barkley is probably not representative of the league as a whole, but certainly Tim Hardaway is no more representative of the league as a whole. Most are somewhere in between.

On the impact of Hardaway's comments: "I think that the truth of the levels of homophobia in society sometimes have to be highlighted by some kind of car crash, and that's what this is. He's stopped people from saying some of the things that I've heard, you know, "Shut up, because there's no issue. There's no need to talk about this, there's no problem. There's no homophobia.'' I find that ironic in the greatest extent in a country where in 33 states you could be fired for being gay."

On his expectations from straight NBA players: "One of the most important things throughout history that we know is that the furtherance of causes for minorities has been sponsored not only by the great efforts of the minorities themselves, but also by the fact that people from outside that minority group would stand shoulder to shoulder (with them). People who stood next to black people during emancipation, during the fight for equal rights were considered very progressive and bold and brave. ... The problem we have in the gay community is that people who stand next to them are considered gay. It makes them quiet."
"The sound of a thousand shoulders shrugging saying "Oh, it's not an issue'' is nothing. ... We have seen how loud and how far one man's statements have reverberated. You tell me which has been more powerful, a thousand people shrugging or the vitriol."