Ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas just became the #1 champ in the tiresome sport of whining about LGBTQ+ people
Ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas says the LGBTQ+ community is more “unfair” than any other group of people on earth.
And sadly, there is no punch line. He was being serious.
In a recent interview with DJ Vlad, the three-time All-Star went in on LGBTQ+ folx for expecting people to use non-offensive language when talking about them. The nerve!
“The LGBT, I think it’s the most unfair group walking the planet right now,” said Arenas. “They have a playbook that only they are playing by, that they can only see, no one else gets to see this playbook, but we’re being judged by everything that’s in this playbook, but we don’t know it.”
It’s hard to parse through all of that stupidity, but we’ll try.
For starters, there are a lot of bad groups on this planet: fascists, dictators, terrorist organizations. But yet, Arenas says LGBTQ+ people are the worst of all… because we expect people to abstain from using anti-gay slurs? Or expect people to use proper pronouns when addressing us? Our playbook isn’t that complicated!
Unfortunately, Arenas kept going.
“It’s not like there’s this dictionary of updates,” he said, “We can sit there and click it and say alright, I can say, ‘Oh I can’t say, they took this out, they added this in.’”
Of course, Arenas is wrong about that, too. There are multiple resources he can consult, including GLAAD’s Ally’s Guide to Terminology and HRC’s Glossery of Terms.
There are also a couple of out gay former NBA players who would probably be happy to help Arenas learn about proper phrasing. Jason Collins, who was the first out active player in NBA history, has been working closely with the league for the last decade to build acceptance and understanding.
John Amaechi, the first NBA player to publicly come out as gay, is a visible LGBTQ+ advocate as well.
But then again, Arenas doesn’t seem all that interested in learning the appropriate terminology. He’s basking in his ignorance, which isn’t surprising from somebody who once brought four guns into an NBA locker room due to a dispute over a card game.
A sampling of Arenas’ outrageous interview is below:
It’s worth noting that Arenas was spouting his inanity just days following another attack on the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans. Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an aspiring web designer who says her Christian faith requires her to turn away same-sex couples looking for wedding-related services to celebrate their marriage.
While the court’s ruling in this particular case was narrow, it opens the door for other private businesses to challenge anti-discrimination ordinances.
And yet, LGBTQ+ people are the “unfair” ones. OK, then…
The truth is, LGBTQ+ people have been targeted and marginalized throughout history, and that remains the case today. This year alone, 85 anti-trans bills have been passed across the U.S., including draconian laws that outlaw gender-affirming care and trans sports participation.
With that in mind, we offer our sincerest apologies to Arenas for wanting him, and others, to demonstrate basic decency and respect. If he thinks that’s too much, he should try walking a day in an LGBTQ+ person’s shoes.
There’s no way his fragile ego would be able to handle it.
