Sunday, April 17, 2011

Did Kobe's Slur Reflect Anti-Gay Bias?

The Christian Science Monitor leads with a revealing article about professional sports and what may be a pervasive anti-gay bias that lurks among top athletes in America.
Kobe used a homophobic slur during a nationally televised basketball game. It's a word we all know. but fortunately one we do not hear quite as much as we used to.
Here's an excerpt from the article:

Bryant was fined $100,000 by the National Basketball Association Wednesday – a decision Bryant says he will appeal – and gay-rights groups challenged him to back up his apology for the slur with actions. But the deeper question is whether this will become a "teachable moment" about the strongly antigay attitudes that pervade professional sports, says Jarred Chin of the Society for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in Boston.
“A lot of people are condemning Kobe for this, but it is language that a lot of men use in our society without knowing what it really means and how ignorant and hurtful it is,” says Mr. Chin.
On a nationally televised broadcast, a frustrated Bryant clearly called the referee who gave him a foul and a technical foul a "f-----." Bryant later issued a statement saying that this outburst was a product of frustration and did not reflect his feelings toward gays.
One final observation: If Kobe (or any other guy) thinks that using a word like this makes him more of a man, shame on him!

Click here to read the entire article.

No comments: