John Amaechi, who came out last week on ESPN (the first (former) NBA player to do so) was named by the Human Rights Campaign as spokesperson of their National Coming Out Day project, a position generally given to those in the news (Chastity Bono, Betty Degeneres, Candice Gingirch, and George Takei have all held the position).
Amaechi's announcement, which followed a certain amount of speculation, was generally met with positivity, although there was still some of the macho posturing that follows these disclosures in the major league arena, such as this nugget by Shaliv Randolph of the 76ers: "As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine. As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in the locker room." He is only the 6th man in one of the four major porfessional sports in the US to come out.
Amaechi, has a book hitting stores, Man in the Middle, which chronicles his life as a gay man in the NBA. He will have a blog on the HRC's site that will be a place for people to share their own coming out stories.
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