tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1075282594114025046.post3799813281521794787..comments2024-01-02T06:26:30.674-08:00Comments on A Line A Day: John Amaechi - Journeyman TrailblazerRoy L. Pickering Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09581170146910148391noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1075282594114025046.post-5787151981328285322007-03-12T12:43:00.000-07:002007-03-12T12:43:00.000-07:00Former NBA player John Amaechi has just become the...Former NBA player John Amaechi has just become the first openly gay male athlete to sign an endorsement deal with a mainstream company.<BR/><BR/>HeadBlade Inc., creators of a popular head-shaving razor, announced Monday it had signed Amaechi to a multiyear deal.<BR/><BR/>As Bob Dylan famously sang - For the times they are a-changin'Roy L. Pickering Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09581170146910148391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1075282594114025046.post-49278973050612254632007-03-07T11:53:00.000-08:002007-03-07T11:53:00.000-08:00I remember I used to be vehemently anti gay becaus...I remember I used to be vehemently anti gay because my father was anti gay. I just didn't understand it, and it gave me a sense of power having affirmation from my family that I didn't have to understand it, that I could actually put someone down and be well within my right. It was a sick elation that I felt. <BR/><BR/>Then my best friend of seven years came out to me, and that was the end of it. There was no question that I wasn't going to turn my back on my friend for the world, and so pretty much overnight, my sick elation that I thought I somehow had a birthright to vanished. <BR/><BR/>I judge gays just as I would judge any person I talked to, "oh he's cool" or "oh my lord he's annoying" or "gosh what a flamer" but never "what a fag." I do call my best friend a fag, but then he calls me a bitch and we laugh. <BR/><BR/>In the world of American all-male sports though, a world that I have been immersed in for years, the atmosphere is juvenile, and best friends leave you at the drop of a dime because being gay is probably the biggest taboo there is. This is a reflection of our culture, it would be so much easier to just throw all the gays out, but no one has the right to oppress someone else, our culture needs to change, not the individuals who bear the brunt of society's superiority complex.Raven Calisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05972384085614553516noreply@blogger.com