John Amaechi appeared before the Log Cabin Republicans at their annual convention over the weekend in Denver. In his speech "Is Pro Sports Changing?" the first former NBA player to ever come out said there has not been the negative reaction he feared.
\"I underestimated America. I braced myself for the wrath of a nation under God," he said. "I imagined that it would be a firestorm, that it would be some insane number of letters demanding my deportation or my death.And in fact, 95 percent of the correspondence I've had have been overwhelmingly supportive and positive. But I will say that the 5 percent that I've had have been unbelievably, viscerally, frighteningly negative."
But Amaechi has not heard from a single former NBA teammate.
"Probably 30 of my former (NBA) teammates have my e-mail and my telephone contacts and probably 16 or so of those I was in regular touch with and there are probably 10 people who I have (on instant messenger). And zero — nobody — who's active in the NBA has been in touch with me since the day I came out, despite the fact that most of them knew I was gay in the first place."
"They are our gladiators, our heroes. On the other hand, there's not many of you would trust them with your children, with your car keys or to do your accounting," he said. "Let's face it, for the most part, the stereotype is that they — we — are dumb as rocks. So, I don't know if they are a terribly good group to be looked at as kind of indicative of societal change or as leaders in that respect."
As for politics, Amaechi chided both Democrats and Republicans: "It's hard for me to hide the fact that I am no fan of this administration, as much for their foreign policy as for their stance on (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) issues," he said. "However, I am no fan of the Democratic candidates who take four days before they decide that Gen. Pace's comments were not very nice."