“I am proud to be an NBA referee, and I am proud to be a gay man.” – NBA official Bill Kennedy.
NBA referee Bill Kennedy, an official in the league for over twenty years, has come out as the first homosexual NBA referee. This announcement comes off of the heels of a December 3rd game he officiated between the Sacramento Kings and the Boston Celtics.
During the game, Kennedy gave Kings’ guard Rajon Rondo a double technical, thus ejecting him out of the game. While Rondo was yelling at Kennedy after the call, he apparently slurred some very homophobic words towards Kennedy. While I’m not willing to share the words, I can indeed validate that they were uncalled for, offensive, and very inappropriate. Rondo has since been suspended one game and finally apologized on Twitter about the comments.
Sacramento Kings general manager, Vlade Divac, and head coach, George Karl, have each expressed their displeasure in Rondo’s comments.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has this to say about the coming out of Kennedy:
“I wholeheartedly support Bill’s decision to live his life proudly and openly. Throughout his 18-year career with the league, Bill has excelled as a referee because of his passion, dedication and courage. Those qualities will continue to serve him well both as a game official and as a positive influence for others. While our league has made great progress, our work continues to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and dignity.”
Hopefully this incident will help bring the NBA players and community into an awareness about discrimination and how wrong it is.
I am sure it takes courage for people to come out. I respect everyone that does. But do we need to celebrate everyone that admits they are homosexual? Should there be a monument for the first to make the confession in every walk of life. I agree that we should not disrespect people. Yet, if we keep making a big deal about it, it will always be an issue.
Just so there is no issue regarding who wrote this…
Marquis Murphy
The reason it was such a big story is because of the comments Rondo made. I’m sure if Kennedy had just come out without any issues, it wouldn’t be a big deal.