John Amaechi received his Officer of the British Empire Medal from the Prince of Wales on Wednesday, a high honor for the only openly gay former NBA player. While I sometimes personally think Amaechi slightly overstates the current environment of homophobia in sports, his target on Wednesday — British soccer — was spot-on:
If you compare their emphasis on racism to what they’ve done on homophobia it’s an embarrassment. There are people in the FA who aren’t that pleased with the idea of women in the boardroom, never mind gay people.
John Amaechi received his Officer of the British Empire Medal from the Prince of Wales on Wednesday, a high honor for the only openly gay former NBA player. While I sometimes personally think Amaechi slightly overstates the current environment of homophobia in sports, his target on Wednesday — British soccer — was spot-on:
If you compare their emphasis on racism to what they’ve done on homophobia it’s an embarrassment. There are people in the FA who aren’t that pleased with the idea of women in the boardroom, never mind gay people.
The Football Association attempted to create an anti-homophobia PSA in 2010. Amaechi at the time described the piece as “vulgar and horrific,” the PSA never ran, and the FA hasn’t created a new one since.
Amaechi is a constant reminder that, despite the progress, there is still a lot of work to be done to end homophobia in sports. We congratulate him on this much-deserve recognition for all of his work not just fighting homophobia, but also lifting up young people and his business work. He's a true dynamo, and we're glad he's on our side!