How did homophobe Tim Hardaway turn into an LGBT ally and gay rights supporter?

There have been many personalities over the years who were once homophobic, but have now changed their belief and turned into LGBT supporters. One such personality is former basketball star Tim Hardaway.

Tim was harsh on his former colleague and fellow basketball player John Amaechi when he came out as openly gay. Tim even went far enough to slander him publicly and remarked that he would distance himself from any player he knew was gay.

Tim, when accused of being a homophobic, responded by saying he hated gay people and he that did not like them and was not comfortable around them. He agreed that he was a homophobic and went on to say such things shouldn’t be present not only in America, but also in the world at large.

He was so insensitive back then that he even said, if he ever found out that he had a gay teammate, he would do everything in his power to get them fired.

After his comments, Tim was immediately put in an uncomfortable situation and the media and various organizations rallied against him. His employers dismissed him from his job and he was even removed from the All-star team.

Tim, later in, went on to apologize for his remarks and started educating himself on LGBT issues. In the year 2011, he finally spoke about the various works and projects he had been doing for the deprived LGBT community and also confessed as to how ignorant and arrogant he was regarding the matter at hand.

Tim, in the recent year, has turned out to be a very outspoken personality for LGBT rights and was symbolically the first petition signer for a proposed amendment in the Florida state constitution which would allow same-sex marriage.

He has also been supporting professional NBA players who, over the years, have come out as openly gay sportsmen in America. Jason Collins, the first openly gay American sportsmen, was supported by Tim publicly and he even went on the say he had nothing but utmost respect for Jason.

Tim, as a professional, had one of the most impressive stats by any player to play for the Miami Heat team. His overall points was 15,173 with a per game average of 17.3 and a record assist of 7,095 with an average of 8.2 per game.

On a personal scale, Tim is married and his wife Yolanda was one of the first person to educate him on the LGBT situation in America. He has two children and his son is also a professional basketball player. Yolanda was Tim’s long time girlfriend prior to marriage. They had began dating in high school.

Tim’s net worth is an estimated $28 million dollars.

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