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My Phone Call To Jason Collins
Mike Adams
RightBias.com
May 9, 2013
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People often write to me expressing their dissatisfaction with President Obama
and his policies. They also like to write to me asking how I will do things
differently if I am elected president in 2016. For example, they ask whether I
would have taken the time to call Jason Collins after he "came out" - becoming
the first openly gay active player in the NBA. The answer is a definite "yes." I
would have called him immediately. And here is what I would have been able to
say to the White House Press corps if later asked about our conversation:
"I told Jason I could have been much prouder of him. One of the extraordinary
measures of social regression that we have seen in this country has been the
insistence that the interests of the LGBT community be interjected into every
aspect of American life. Now, the agenda is even present in kindergarten sex
education classes in Massachusetts. At first, it was placed there by those who
insisted that such educational classes would be fully optional for objecting
parents. Now, parents who show up at these schools objecting to the
sexualization of their children are threatened with prosecution for trespass.
None of this would be happening if homosexuals were content to live their lives
privately and peacefully without imposing their agenda upon those who
respectfully disagree with them.
"I reminded Jason that everyone deserves full equality. But I also reminded
Jason that the so-called LGBT community already has full equality, not just
partial equality. For example, he had a right to marry his fiancé of seven
years. But just because he decided to relinquish that right, it does not mean
the courts need to create a new right for him to exercise. The polygamists tried
that in the 1800s and the Supreme Court rightly said ‘no’ to their legal
arguments. Given that there is far greater historical acceptance of polygamy
than so-called gay marriage, he has no broad right to marry anyone he chooses.
So I urged Jason not to use his newfound platform to push this issue. I will
have more to say about substitutionary rights - the idea that when you
relinquish a right, you get to select a new one - in a future press conference.
But now back to Jason.
"I also told him that I was disappointed that the LGBT community was no longer
seeking tolerance, but instead seeking acquiescence to the notion that their
lifestyle is every bit as healthy as the traditional American family. Of course,
that is simply absurd. I reminded him that even Elton John recently recognized
that his adopted son would suffer because he had no 'mummy.' I urged Jason to
avoid gay adoption as it was not in the interests of the child - although it
might be an effective publicity stunt once his first round of media adoration
has subsided.
"Given the importance of sports in our society, for an individual who's been
mediocre at best in one of those major sports to suddenly say 'This is who I am.
I'm proud of it. I'm still a great competitor. I'm still seven foot tall and
deliver a hard foul' was simply a distraction. I think for a lot of young people
out there who are confused and who are struggling with these issues, to see a
role model like that who is interjecting sex into sports, well, it's just not a
good thing. I think America should be concerned that this is just one more stunt
reinforcing this ongoing illusion that we do not treat everybody fairly, and
that we judge people on the basis of their sex life rather than their character
and their job performance. We can't judge them on the basis of those things if
they keep interjecting sex into the workplace. That just isn't right. So, I'm
very displeased with Jason and I told him that.
"Over the course of his career, Jason has averaged less than five points a game
and made less than two-thirds of his free throws. The fact that he was featured
on the cover of Sports Illustrated merely because of the fact that he likes to
have sex with men is just embarrassing. There are far better and more deserving
athletes who will never be featured on the cover of a major sports magazine.
What a shame he got there the easy way by 'coming out' rather than coming to the
gym to work on his foul shots.
"I told Jason, what is most notable about his recent conduct is his lack of
courage. He lived a lie and misled a nice woman for seven years. Only after it
became politically correct to be gay - and when anyone on the NBA was assured a
six-digit fine for criticizing him - did he come forward. I've never seen a
seven foot man act so small.
Jason has taught young people to do easy things, not hard things, in order to
win the affection of others. He has taught them that they are to be judged, not
by the content of their character, but by the many colors of the banner of
sexual political correctness. That will be the legacy of Jason Collins. I wish
he had thought of the long term consequences of his decisions before he made
them. Whether we like it or not, an athlete is a role model. Others are
watching. And that is something I plan to talk about again in my next White
House Press Conference.
"Now, does anyone have any questions about the economy? This country is in
serious debt and we’ve already wasted too much time on an over-paid, aging
athlete who is neither a victim nor a hero.”
Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington and author of
Letters to a Young Progressive: How To Avoid Wasting
Your Life Protesting Things You Don't Understand, due out in
April..
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