NFT: Jason Collins is teh ghey

[Planetman]

NTTAWWT

Why NBA center Jason Collins is coming out now

By Jason Collins with Franz Lidz

This story appears in the May 6, 2013, issue of Sports Illustrated.

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay.

I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.

My journey of self-discovery and self-acknowledgement began in my hometown of Los Angeles and has taken me through two state high school championships, the NCAA Final Four and the Elite Eight, and nine playoffs in 12 NBA seasons.

I've played for six pro teams and have appeared in two NBA Finals. Ever heard of a parlor game called Three Degrees of Jason Collins? If you're in the league, and I haven't been your teammate, I surely have been one of your teammates' teammates. Or one of your teammates' teammates' teammates.

Now I'm a free agent, literally and figuratively. I've reached that enviable state in life in which I can do pretty much what I want. And what I want is to continue to play basketball. I still love the game, and I still have something to offer. My coaches and teammates recognize that. At the same time, I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful.

Why am I coming out now? Well, I started thinking about this in 2011 during the NBA player lockout. I'm a creature of routine. When the regular season ends I immediately dedicate myself to getting game ready for the opener of the next campaign in the fall. But the lockout wreaked havoc on my habits and forced me to confront who I really am and what I really want. With the season delayed, I trained and worked out. But I lacked the distraction that basketball had always provided.

The first relative I came out to was my aunt Teri, a superior court judge in San Francisco. Her reaction surprised me. "I've known you were gay for years," she said. From that moment on I was comfortable in my own skin. In her presence I ignored my censor button for the first time. She gave me support. The relief I felt was a sweet release. Imagine you're in the oven, baking. Some of us know and accept our sexuality right away and some need more time to cook. I should know -- I baked for 33 years.

When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.

I realized I needed to go public when Joe Kennedy, my old roommate at Stanford and now a Massachusetts congressman, told me he had just marched in Boston's 2012 Gay Pride Parade. I'm seldom jealous of others, but hearing what Joe had done filled me with envy. I was proud of him for participating but angry that as a closeted gay man I couldn't even cheer my straight friend on as a spectator. If I'd been questioned, I would have concocted half truths. What a shame to have to lie at a celebration of pride. I want to do the right thing and not hide anymore. I want to march for tolerance, acceptance and understanding. I want to take a stand and say, "Me, too."

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I will take that as bullzeye.

I'd rather you take it as a question.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by loochy

Yes, he's saying that according to written law, gay people have the same rights. He is saying that the laws are not written to include situations that may benefit or determent the gay man. He is also saying that legal discrimination still goes on.

Is that a correct summary patt?

Sounds right to me. I'm still curious what Direckshun thinks I'm defending though.

[Donger]

UP, if you have something to say to me, please do it here. Thanks.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Donger

UP, if you have something to say to me, please do it here. Thanks.

uh oh, donger got ran over by the neg rep train

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by Donger

UP, if you have something to say to me, please do it here. Thanks.

Hootie already said it best.

(A sentence I never imagined I'd say, but here we are.)

Also you're a miserable piece of shit and I hope the "beep boop I am a calculating hate robot" thing is an act. kthx

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

Hootie already said it best.

(A sentence I never imagined I'd say, but here we are.)

Also you're a miserable piece of shit and I hope the "beep boop I am a calculating hate robot" thing is an act. kthx

Actually, I'm a very happy person and I have no issues whatever with what I wrote. Because it's entirely accurate. If you think that makes me a sociopath, I'd suggest that it may be you who are miserable.

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by Donger

Actually, I'm a very happy person

Sociopaths usually are, without that pesky "capacity for empathy" thing and whatnot.

[Ultra Peanut]

No but seriously, **** you. NOT being an asshole to other people for no goddamn reason is SO ****ING EASY, but you steadfastly refuse to even test it out a little.

That applies to most of the people in this thread.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

Sociopaths usually are, without that pesky "capacity for empathy" thing and whatnot.

Let me ask you a question: do you think that homosexuals have "something wrong with them" based on the fact that they have are attracted to and typically copulate with the same sex?

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by Donger

Let me ask you a question: do you think that homosexuals have "something wrong with them" based on the fact that they have are attracted to and typically copulate with the same sex?

I think it's a ****ing absurd concept and completely impossible to define anything of the sort. You're trying to pin down a totally arbitrary delineation.

I also think it's pathetic that people cling to shit like that to justify their insecurity over people who are different from them having any real input into the way our society operates.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

No but seriously, **** you. NOT being an asshole to other people for no goddamn reason is SO ****ING EASY, but you steadfastly refuse to even test it out a little.

That applies to most of the people in this thread.

How about "different wiring" or "not operating as nature intended wiring"? Would that make you happy?

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by Donger

How about "different wiring" or "not operating as nature intended wiring"? Would that make you happy?

a) NATURE IS INCAPABLE OF THOUGHT
b) everyone has "different wiring." People are color blind, people are left/right handed, people are born with red hair or hair that grays/balds in their 20s. people like music or are interested in science or math or art or monster trucks or all of the above. shit ****ing happens.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

I think it's a ****ing absurd concept and completely impossible to define anything of the sort. You're trying to pin down a totally arbitrary delineation.

Errr, what is an absurd concept? Nature/God/whatever gave homosexuals the sexual organs to procreate with a member of the opposite sex (sperm & egg, penis & vagina), but the desire to only do so with members of their own sex.

Yes, I'd call that a rather obvious case of bad wiring. Then again, nature isn't 100%

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by Donger

Errr, what is an absurd concept? Nature/God/whatever gave homosexuals the sexual organs to procreate with a member of the opposite sex (sperm & egg, penis & vagina), but the desire to only do so with members of their own sex.

Yes, I'd call that a rather obvious case of bad wiring. Then again, nature isn't 100%

hurrrrrdurrrrrr procreation is the only thing that matters, all sterile people are BROKEN HUMAN BEINGS and all people who fail to produce children were DEFECTIVE. i am the almighty label-maker and all of society shall be organized under my watch

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

I also think it's pathetic that people cling to shit like that to justify their insecurity over people who are different from them having any real input into the way our society operates.

I'm okay with your defining my acceptance of biological fact as clinging. Perfectly okay with it. I'm also perfectly fine with homosexuals having real input into the way our society operates. Babies excluded, of course.