Outbursts of celebrity bigotry have become such a fad in recent months that somebody could probably strike gold with a reality show about them. First, we had Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant after his driving under the influence arrest, followed by Michael Richards' racist tirade at the Laugh Factory. Now, we have Tim Hardaway's "I hate gay people" rant.
Hardaway's comments are nothing new. It's their implications that are worrisome.
Following Hardaway's comments, several users of the social networking Web site facebook.com created groups to celebrate them. One group, titled "TIM HARDAWAY JUST BECAME MY FAVORITE BASKETBALL PLAYER!" had 617 members as of Tuesday. Photos posted to the group endorsed anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps. Some members referred to gay people as "fags" and "homos."
Hardaway's comments have emboldened bigots to show themselves. It's like "Dawn of the Dead," but with provincial meatheads and hicks instead of brain-craving ghouls.
How did Hardaway accomplish in a minute what Phelps hasn't accomplished in years? Phelps puts an ugly face on hatred, but Hardaway puts a cool, famous face on it. One could make the same arguments about Richards and Gibson, and truth be told, racism, sexism and anti-Semitism remain pervasive in American culture.
However, homophobia commands more respectability than other forms of bigotry. Being labeled a homophobe doesn't carry quite the same stigma as being labeled a racist, sexist or anti-Semite.
You can still get away with "love the sinner, hate the sin" when talking about gay people and expect people not to scoff with disbelief and disgust when you state in the same breath that you're not a homophobe. You can still demand respect for your humble opinion when saying you "oppose" homosexuality because it's justified by the Bible, just like owning slaves and killing disobedient children.
Ironically, people who have that view are admitting their prejudice. Prejudice is hating not the individual, but the group to which that individual belongs and his belonging to it.
It would not have mattered if Richards had said he "loved the black man, hated the blackness" on stage at the Laugh Factory, or if Gibson had told his arresting officer that he "loved the Jew, hated the Judaism." We would still call Richards a racist and Gibson an anti-Semite.
It's folly to directly compare expressions of racism, sexism and homophobia to one another, but they all come from the same place: reaction to attempts by oppressed groups to assert themselves.
Since Roman Emperor Constantine enacted the West's first sodomy law nearly 2,000 years ago, homophobia has existed as part of a broader practice of imposing harsh restrictions on sexual activity.
Anything beyond a married, heterosexual couple in the missionary position making babies has generally been considered vice. Since the time of Constantine, gay men have been executed, castrated, tortured, imprisoned, subjected to hate crimes, discriminated against, used as political cannon fodder and deemed immoral because they represent the exact opposite of the patriarchy and prudery that the Christian outlook has imposed on the West.
In this context, it's little wonder why we have hate crimes, legally permitted anti-gay discrimination in 33 states and anti-gay constitutional amendments, while politicians can use homophobic hysteria to get themselves elected and one idiotic remark can make Tim Hardaway an overnight hero for America's intellectually disinclined underbelly.
In a culture where pleasure is vice and masculinity means dominating women, a man who likes other men is a walking transgression, especially if he expects others to treat him as a human being.
Write to Alaric at ajdearment@bsu.edu
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