As i prepare for a week-long vacation, I realized I still had some unused material from my interview with former NBA player John Amaechi who I had a nice lunch with last month. Here is some of what he had to say about the practice of outing closeted famous people:
"It is reprehensible with one exception:If you are a closeted person, man or woman, and you make it your mission to make the lives of gays and lesbians worse with your words and your deeds, you're asking for it. If you are a politican who consistently votes for anti-GLBT ordinances, you're asking for it. I don't condone [outing] but I couldn't damn it in that respect. But when it comes to Lance Bass from NSYNC or T.R. Knight, no. Let them have their own personal journey.the same way each one of us expects to be allowed that. I'm pretty sure nobody destroyed Perez Hilton's personal journey to coming out so why destroy somebody elses? It's such a massive transition."

Is this why he left any juicy tidbits out of his boo, "Man in the Middle"?
"If I named names, that would make me as bad as Perez Hilton. I'm a private person. The editors and publishers wanted me to go into more detail. but the fact is, most of it wasn't that titilating and those that were important to me, I didn't want to discuss."

So is he in a relationship now?
"Nope! I'm far too difficult for that."

How has he changed since leaving the NBA?
"I'm not a different person than I was. That's the key, I'm just not. I was gay, all my life. I was certainly gay six months ago, I'm hoping I'll be gay in 10 year's time. So, it doesn't change although people may change their perception of me. But since when should i allow other people's perceptions of me to change who I am?"

On pro athletes like Billy Bean and others who came out before him: "Each person who's done it has brought a different thing to the table, a different aspect. I believe I'm bringing a pretty cerebral approach to this that cuts through a lot of the emotive crap and allows us to discuss the real issues. And that's my place in this. I'm never going to be fuzzy. Fuzzy and warm I am only with children. That's [Bean's] role in this. He is an emotional connection to this for people whereas I doubt very much that I am an emotional connection because I sound too detatched. It's who i am, it's how I interact."