Shock, disbelief, even physically shaken. I felt all of those emotions as I listened to the words of former NBA All-Star guard Tim Hardaway speak his mind Wednesday about the prospect of an openly-gay player in the NBA.

Let’s start at the beginning.

“First of all, I wouldn’t want him on my team,” Hardaway said as a guest on a Miami radio show. “And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don’t think that’s right. And you know I don’t think he should be in the locker room while we’re in the locker room. I wouldn’t even be a part of that.”

OK Timmy, you’re homophobic. It’s wrong, but I know it exists. I can accept you voicing your open discrimination. Plus, you never know when that gay player is going to hit on you in the locker room, because you’re Tim Hardaway, king of the cross-over dribble. Why wouldn’t he hit on you?

“You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known,” you went on to say. “I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”

Well, at least you admitted you are a homophobe. Does it make you sleep better at night knowing you’re a bigot? Because that is what being homophobic makes you, a bigot. I use that word because it seems to resonate more in society than “homophobic,” even though both words are prejudiced.

It’s 2007. This is the United States. Didn’t we all learn the terrible work of prejudice in school, Timmy? Did you pay attention when your teachers talked about slavery, World War II or women’s suffrage? Didn’t everyone agree prejudice against blacks, Jews, women and everyone else unfortunate enough to face such mindless intolerance, was wrong?

Why is homosexuality so difficult for you to accept? Why is homosexuality so difficult for all of society to accept? What is it to you, Timmy, who a man or a woman longs for and shares a bed with? What are you afraid of? You must be afraid of something, because you later apologized Wednesday on another Miami program.

“Yes, I regret it,” you said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said I hate gay people or anything like that. That was my mistake.”

Wait, you regret voicing your opinion? Why? You spoke your feelings, how is that a mistake? Do you not want people to know you’re a bigot? Are you afraid of what your fans think of you? You’ve already lost at least one.

You live in the U.S. You have the right to speak your mind, and I don’t have any problem with you announcing your bigotry. I’m just mortified you could actually believe the words you spoke.

You really hate another portion of society? Should I hate Arabs because a group of them blew up the World Trade Center? We all agree that is wrong, right?

The idea of homosexuality in sports is at an all-time high as former NBA player John Amaechi has come out in his book this month. Amaechi is the first former NBA player to publicly come out. Two years ago, WNBA star and three-time gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes announced she was gay. Because it is believed anywhere from 1 to 10 percent of the U.S. population is gay, there are at least a handful of other gay professional athletes.

Isn’t it time society accepts people – athletes or not – for who they are?

A friend of mine told me the gay and lesbian movement in the U.S. is our generation’s civil rights movement. He’s right. Past generations worked toward equality for women and blacks, now it is our turn.

Prejudice obviously still flows through a portion of 40-year-old Tim Hardaway’s generation. Because history is all about learning from the mistakes of the past, our generation needs to learn from the mistakes of Hardaway and others like him.

Kevin Bruffy is a former Lantern sports and opinion editor. He can be reached at [email protected].