That question, fueled by statements James made to the Columbus Dispatch, has confronted us with a more general question: do you have an obligation to disclose your sexual orientation to your teammates or coworkers?
Amazingly, the NBA may prove to be a laboratory to see what tangible successes America's various gay-rights initiatives can claim in the more masculine elements of U.S. culture.
LeBron James, representing the typical view of the NBA culture, shows that we have a long way to go in terms of meaningful equality among peoples of sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the NBA is very limited in what it can do about this issue, as changing the culture of the hundreds of players in the NBA requires much more than an administrative edict.
The recent controversy over homosexuality in the NBA began Feb. 7 when the Cavaliers reacted to the announcement that John Amaechi, former Cavalier player, is a homosexual.
Amaechi, with the announcement in his forthcoming book, became the first openly homosexual player in NBA history.
James told the Columbus Dispatch that closet homosexuals can't be trusted as teammates.
"As teammates, you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting it that you are, you're not trustworthy," the 22-year-old guard told the paper.
First, this is interesting because it brings up the issue of closet-homosexuality as a trust issue, instead of an issue of discrimination against homosexual workers. Typically, the problem is that companies want their employees to be silent about their sexual lives and their sexual identities.
Essentially, it's a business don't-ask-don't-tell policy.
But, by James' standard, coworkers and teammates should always be forthcoming and vocal about their sexual preferences. If James got his way, the workplace would be a place where little is sacred, where coworkers and teammates have to share every gruesome detail of their private lives, just so they can be "trustworthy."
Along with it being a bad idea for coworkers to talk about sex, in general, it is particularly troublesome for teammates to discuss sexuality in masculine, male-dominated sports.
It is utterly stupid for James to demand that any homosexual teammates of his tell him that they are gay. I know the lucrative Nike commercial advertise him as King James, but this is ridiculous.
No basketball player is so mighty that he can demand any knowledge he wants of his teammates' personal lives.
Imagine if Herb Sendek, coach of the ASU men's basketball team, required his players to fill out forms indicating their sexual orientation. Imagine also, for the purpose of team energy evaluation, he demanded to get detailed reports on how often, how strenuously, and for how long each member of the men's team engaged in sexual intercourse.
We have to draw the line somewhere. Let's draw the line of personal privacy back way behind where King James demands it be.
Reach the reporter: macy.hanson@ashchoice.com.
