{"id":830,"date":"2011-05-20T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T14:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=830"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:57:05","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:57:05","slug":"the-nbas-new-strong-stance-on-homophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/05\/20\/the-nbas-new-strong-stance-on-homophobia\/","title":{"rendered":"The NBA\u2019s New Strong Stance on Homophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay Willis<\/em><\/p>\n

In a\u00a0lengthy article<\/a>\u00a0published in Sunday\u2019s New York Times, Rick Welts, president of the NBA\u2019s Phoenix Suns, publicly disclosed his homosexuality. \u00a0The contrast in Mr. Welts\u2019 story is jarring: in his public life, he played an integral role in the development of some of the NBA\u2019s most popular programs (Slam Dunk Contest, anyone?) and became president of a perennially successful franchise. \u00a0In his private life, he was forced to quietly grieve the death of his longtime partner as he continued to keep his sexuality a closely-guarded secret.<\/p>\n

The intersection of sports and homosexuality has often been a taboo among players, fans, and journalists alike; as the Times article put it, popular perceptions of homosexuality do not seem to mesh with a business in which \u201cmanhood is often defined by on-court toughness and off-court conquest.\u201d \u00a0However, Mr. Welts\u2019 decision comes on the heels of two recent incidents in which the NBA, under the leadership of Commissioner David Stern, has taken a more active and vocal stance than ever against on-court homophobia.<\/p>\n


\nFirst, in April, Lakers star Kobe Bryant was\u00a0fined<\/a>\u00a0$100,000 after TV cameras caught him directing an anti-gay slur at a referee during a game. But this was no ordinary fine: the NBA Constitution purports to\u00a0limit fines<\/a>\u00a0for payer misconduct to $50,000. Bryant\u2019s fine is much higher, for example, than Josh Smith\u2019s maximum\u00a0$50,000<\/a>\u00a0fine for making an obscene gesture at fans or Stephen Jackson\u2019s\u00a0$50,000<\/a>\u00a0penalty for \u201cverbally abusing\u201d a referee during a game. \u00a0It is very significant that the NBA views Bryant\u2019s conduct as more serious than Smith\u2019s or Jackson\u2019s, precisely because of the additional element of homophobia that underlies Bryant\u2019s indiscretion. \u00a0In levying this unprecedented fine, the NBA sent a strong message to its players, role models for millions of young people, that such conduct \u2013 even if only inadvertently captured by TV cameras \u2013 will not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

In addition, Suns players Grant Hill and Jared Dudley recently filmed a\u00a0PSA<\/a>\u00a0exhorting viewers to refrain from \u201cusing \u2018gay\u2019 to mean \u2018dumb\u2019 or \u2018stupid.\u2019\u201d The most novel and encouraging aspect of the 30-second spot, as the quoted language above might indicate, is its\u00a0directness<\/em>. \u00a0Hill and Dudley do not speak in the vagaries that so often undermine these PSAs. \u00a0Instead of merely encouraging young athletes to be \u201ctolerant,\u201d \u201copen-minded,\u201d or \u201crespectful,\u201d the players directly address anti-gay speech in sports and discuss, albeit briefly, why its use is offensive. \u00a0Though a public-relations response to Bryant\u2019s slip of the tongue was inevitable, the NBA went beyond the clich\u00e9s that plague too many public-service announcements and instead chose to directly address homophobic language used on the court.<\/p>\n

The outpouring of public support in the wake of Welts\u2019 admission (from Commissioner Stern, Hall of Famer Bill Russell, the\u00a0always-quotable Charles Barkley<\/a>, and current All-Star Steve Nash, among many others) is a welcome sign that the tide is slowly turning. \u00a0The NBA should be commended for contributing to this change through its recent strong, uncompromising, and direct approach to combating homophobia in sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay Willis In a\u00a0lengthy article\u00a0published in Sunday\u2019s New York Times, Rick Welts, president of the NBA\u2019s Phoenix Suns, publicly disclosed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-do","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}