Gay Rights Group SLAMS Kobe -- 'What A Disgrace'

Contents:

• A GAY FORMER N.B.A. PLAYER RPONDS TO KOBE BRYANT
• KOBE BRYANT MAY HAVE ED A GAY SLUR
• GAY RIGHTS SLAMS KOBE-- "WHAT A DISGRACE" KOBE GETS FED 100K
• GAY RIGHTS GROUP SLAMS KOBE -- 'WHAT A DISGRACE'
• LOS ANGEL LAKERS' KOBE BRYANT FED $100,000 FOR ANTI-GAY SLUR
• LOOKG BACK AT KOBE BRYANT'S ALTERTN WH REFEREE THAT PROMPTED A $100,000 FE AND WISPREAD CRICISM OM GAY-RIGHTS GROUPS

A GAY FORMER N.B.A. PLAYER RPONDS TO KOBE BRYANT

Though Bryant’s origal apology was filled wh jtifitns — he said his homophobic language “should not be taken lerally” and was “out of tratn durg the heat of a game” — he went on to participate an anti-discrimatn public service vio for GLAAD and promised he “planned to do more.

KOBE BRYANT MAY HAVE ED A GAY SLUR

When Jason Colls publicly me out 2013 — beg the first active openly gay player NBA history — Bryant honored his word and did the right thg.

Bryant’s public embrace of Colls was a watershed moment terms of the perceived acceptance of openly gay athlet the NBA.

Bryant admonished a fan on Twter for dog what he did 2011: tossg around homophobic sults. Jt lettg you know@PacSmoove @pookeo9 that g "your gay" as a way to put someone down a't ok! He ntued to cheer on openly gay athlet, too, fervently appldg the U.

GAY RIGHTS SLAMS KOBE-- "WHAT A DISGRACE" KOBE GETS FED 100K

On Sunday, openly gay soccer star Megan Rapoe tweeted her ndolenc to the Bryant fay.

It was watchg his transformatn om the man who was fed $100, 000 for directg an anti-gay slur at referee Bennie Adams 2011 to an LGBTQ equaly unrstand how much Bryant's self-examatn and ultimate change meant to me, know that there were only two players I sisted my son watch live: Allen Iverson and Kobe.

The fact that both men were attached to ugly, homophobic moments offers a glimpse to how difficult n be for some LGBTQ people to work a field which ritured masculy is nsired currency. Like many gay men, I love sports and refe to be chased out by simple-md men, pecially by those dus who n’t get women to like them but are nvced every gay man wants,, the pot is Kobe changed bee he did more than pay a fe and issue a clumsy, weak apology.

GAY RIGHTS GROUP SLAMS KOBE -- 'WHAT A DISGRACE'

He spoke wh me, he spoke wh LGBTQ anizatns and then, when he was fortable, he spoke out agast homophobia — not bee the NBA or sponsors ma him but bee, to quote the late John Lewis, “When you see somethg that is not right, not fair, not jt, you have to speak up.

”I love sports and refe to be chased out by simplemd men, pecially by those dus who n’t get women to like them but are nvced every gay man wants brgs to Thom Brennaman, the Fox Sports announcer who got ught droppg a "fag" bomb on air. So, the real qutn for Major League Baseball, general, and the Ccnati Reds, specifilly, is why did someone who has been llg gam for more than 30 years feel fortable enough to drop an anti-gay slur a workplace environment 2020?

There are openly gay executiv MLB — cludg my iends Erik Braverman, a senr vice print for the Dodgers, as well as oime Dodger Billy Bean, who is a special assistant to MLB Commissner Rob Maned. There may not be any openly gay male athlet playg the big four sports, but we’ve heard several g-out stori after players retired. There was even an openly gay man nng for, Brennaman felt relaxed enough, wh earshot of technicians and other lleagu, to sually drop a reference to an unknown lole as "one of the fag pals of the world.

LOS ANGEL LAKERS' KOBE BRYANT FED $100,000 FOR ANTI-GAY SLUR

Removg Brennaman won’t expunge homophobia om baseball any more than Jackie Robson’s first at-bat turned Ameri to a geo are all but sgle steps on the journey. Changg that is far more important than ddlg homophob, regardls of how long they’ve been allowed to fter.

A Gay Former Player Rponds to Kobe Bryant - The New York Tim. A Gay Former N. Chris Goodney/Bloomberg News; Lucy Nicholson/Rters John Amaechi said Kobe Bryant shouldn’t fight the fe imposed for his e of an antigay slur.

After Los Angel Lakers guard Kobe Bryant directed an antigay slur at a referee Tuday night om the bench a game agast the Phoenix Suns, the N. When someone wh the stat of Kobe Bryant, arguably the bt basketball player a generatn, hurls that antigay slur at a referee or anyone else — let’s ll the F-word — he is tellg boys,.

LOOKG BACK AT KOBE BRYANT'S ALTERTN WH REFEREE THAT PROMPTED A $100,000 FE AND WISPREAD CRICISM OM GAY-RIGHTS GROUPS

gay, bisexual and transgenr person is faiar. Right now Ameri young people are beg killed and killg themselv simply bee of the words and behavrs they are subjected to for beg perceived as lbian or gay, or ankly jt different. If jtice anywhere is a threat to jtice everywhere, then the relative power of an antigay gay.

I don’t thk Kobe Bryant is some vic homophobe, but I do thk he ma a mistake and has sound more like a squirmg polician than a natnal hero sce the cint me to light. You spoke ill-advised words that shot out like bullets, and if the e-mails I received om straight and gay young people and sports fans Los Angel alone are anythg to go by, you.

Player to acknowledge that he is gay. When he went to the bench, TNT’s meras ught him apparently llg referee Bennie Adams a “f******g [gay slur].