At Harvard-Westlake, a private high school in the shadows of the Hollywood Hills, players from the basketball team heaped praise on the alumnus who this week became the first active NBA player to announce that he is gay.
"We have a lot of pride in him," Michael Sheng, 17, said of Jason Collins. "He's a hero, an icon for what he has done."
Support from basketball players was more tentative at Susan Miller Dorsey High, a school in the heart of Los Angeles' black community that has long been an athletic powerhouse, producing numerous NFL and NBA players.
"Sure, it's a sign of progress," said Myles Thomas, 18. "But is he an icon? Nah. Not to us."
Collins' decision to come out this week has reverberated across the country. The initial reaction was overwhelmingly positive, though dissent has emerged on the Internet, talk radio and other media.
That diversity of opinion was evident this week at two high schools in disparate corners of Los Angeles: The reactions from their basketball teams underscore how attitudes toward homosexuality are evolving.
At Harvard-Westlake — where tuition starts at $31,000 a year — gay rights are discussed passionately both on campus and at home. Collins learned how to be open-minded and have his own opinion, said the school's president, Tom Hudnut.
"He was taught to speak up when things were not right," Hudnut said. "His education here played a big part in that."
At Dorsey — where about 70% of students qualify for free lunches — gay rights aren't a focal point.
Sure, some of the players said, Collins is African American, just as they are, but he grew up in an affluent, mostly white culture that is more likely to accept homosexuality. It's hard for them to imagine a day when a young male athlete in the inner city would be able to acknowledge he's gay and be called a hero.
"Change is going to come, you can't stop it," said their coach, Kevin Gibson, who has held his job for 23 years. "How long it's going to take and how much of a change? That will probably be different in every community and every school and every team. It's a discussion, a work in progress."
::
Sam Sachs first heard about Collins' revelation in a Monday morning geography class at Harvard-Westlake. A classmate found out while scrolling through the Internet on a cellphone. Suddenly, Sachs said, a sleepy day grew energized, and the news became grist for school-wide conversation.
No one was more interested than the boys' basketball players, most of whom idolized Collins, who most recently played for the Washington Wizards, and his twin, Jarron, who also had an NBA career.
"For a Harvard-Westlake alumni to be the first active professional player to come out while still playing? Amazing," said Sachs, 17.
Sachs' teammates made clear that having a gay player on their team would be celebrated. The reason, they said, had everything to do with Harvard-Westlake's culture.
One of the school's most active on-campus groups is its gay-straight alliance, roughly 50 students strong, according to Hudnut. Teachers, administrators and parents regularly speak about gay rights. Religion isn't discussed much. If anyone were to come to campus expressing the view that homosexuals are sinners, they'd be met by outrage, said the school's longtime basketball coach, Greg Hilliard.
"We have a lot less tolerance for people who make reactionary statements like Mr. Broussard," Hilliard said, referring to ESPN television commentator Chris Broussard, who said Monday that, because of his religious beliefs, he did not condone homosexuality.
"If a guy like that came to this campus, that is where I would have to talk to my guys about the importance of tolerance.… They'd have some hard questions for a guy like that," Hilliard said.
By coincidence, in mid-April the school held a packed assembly that featured John Amaechi, who came out in 2007, years after he retired from the NBA. The Harvard-Westlake basketball players said Amaechi underscored the message they get on campus every day: Don't discriminate, don't label others, gay and lesbian students have strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
2 L.A. high schools, 2 views of Jason Collins
Dengan url
http://penyakitberbahayakan.blogspot.com/2013/05/2-la-high-schools-2-views-of-jason.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
2 L.A. high schools, 2 views of Jason Collins
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
2 L.A. high schools, 2 views of Jason Collins
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar