John Amaechi was invited to serve as the Grand Marshall
for eight Gay Pride Parades this year, and accepted three
offers: Los Angeles, Utah and Chicago.
But no one
informed the former National Basketball Association player
how big the Chicago version is.
"Oh my God,
I didn't realize there would be that many people," Amaechi
said when he was told that the Chicago Gay Pride Parade
(June 24) will attract more than 400,000 spectators. "To
tell you the truth, I was really hesitant when I got the
request to be the Grand Marshall because I knew it would be
large, but I didn't know it would be that large.
"I wasn't
sure I was Grand Marshall material; I don't know if I'm
quite ‘fun enough' or ‘exuberant enough,' but I definitely
am honored by the request. It's something I'm really looking
forward to."
The Los
Angeles parade is June 10, while Utah's version, held in
Amaechi's old basketball stomping grounds of Salt Lake City,
is June 3.
Amaechi said he's been to a Pride Parade in England and the
bar-madness that surrounded that event, but never in the
U.S.
"I guess I need to perfect my royal wave," he said,
laughing. "It's exciting, but a complete unknown to me. I'm
hoping I just going to get caught up in the moment, and
hopefully not embarrass myself."
Amaechi
shared his thoughts on some recent news.
On the massacre at Virginia Tech: "My first reaction was, I
was horrified. I called several people that day to turn on
the television, if they hadn't already. We all watched
aghast as we saw the number of people who had [died],
especially as that number kept rising and we heard the
details of [the day]."
Could a similar massacre ever be orchestrated by someone
from the LGBT community based simply on the fact that LGBT
people often can be picked on?
"I don't know if it's transferable. Not that an LGBT person
wouldn't be capable of such a horrific thing, but rather,
most young LGBT people internalize [their feelings] when
they are persecuted and the damage they do tends to be to
themselves with eating disorders, drugs or suicide."
Amaechi said he never played against Virginia Tech, or
visited the campus in Blacksburg, Va.
On former Penn State women's basketball coach
Rene Portland who resigned in late-March amid
allegations that she may have discriminated against lesbian
players:
"People
like her are incongruent with institutions of higher
learning; these are places that are supposed to be bastions
of creativity, inclusion and progress. And they shouldn't be
held back by people like her.
"It was absolutely appropriate [that she resigned]. It's
been a long time coming."
Amaechi attended Penn State University.
He returned to the State College, Pa., campus on April 19
for the Distinguished Speakers Program, which brings people
from all walks of life to PSU to address students. He spoke
to about 850 students and some local residents, sharing his
life story, his ideas, philosophies and hopes for students.
"It was amazing. I was really pleased that my first official
speech at a college was at Penn State. I was honored."
On Don Imus, who was fired from his radio and TV shows for
offensive on-air comments directed at the Rutgers women's
basketball team:
"I don't
know a lot about Don Imus, but, from what I've heard, [the
Rutgers-related statement] was just the culmination of many,
many inappropriate comments from him."
"I'm a
little perturbed that people are calling ‘fag out' an
English expression because, I have never heard that comment.
Not ever. I never heard it from my grand-dad when he was
alive. Or my mother. Or my friends. Or business people who I
interact with.
"Even if it does have some sort of historical reference, the
fact is: it's inappropriate now. And I think [Packer] knows
it's inappropriate now, yet is going to keep saying it
because I think he thinks he can.
"Words, like everything, evolve. And the people who use
those words have to evolve too."
On his life over the past two months since revealing he is
gay:
"The
biggest surprise is, I completely under-estimated America. I
under-estimated college students. I under-estimated
businessman, Black people, white people, men, women, the
straight community. I thought when I came out that it would
be the end of most of my friendships. I thought I would face
a torrent of fire, that people would be picketing outside my
hotel rooms. But the fact is, although I've had some pretty
wild and negative comments, they have been so drowned out by
the majority of the comments," which have been positive.
"There have been so many funny, uplifting stories from
others over the past few months … I might write another book
about them."
