They are outdated because they suppress the rights of a group of people in our country. Someone suggested that Ivo wouldn't comment on African-American rights. Ivo probably wouldn't comment on African-American rights because our generation has grown up in a society where African-Americans aren't separated anymore and have legal rights the same as I do (Don't worry, I'm not naive enough to think we're at a point where there's not still discrimination, but I blame that on bigoted individuals who hold onto their outdated beliefs that certain people just aren't the same as everyone else and pass that along to their children, who know no better.)

You still think that AIDS is the "gay disease"? Is that your point? Magic Johnson. Slept around a lot and picked up HIV. Pretty sure he was straight. I don't think your problem should be with gay people, it should probably be with the entire 80's lifestyle that a lot of people participated in. 

I'm aware of that but the vast majority of dissenting opinions on the subject point to the Bible as their guide on the issue.   I am by no means throwing all Christians (or Muslims, Jews, Hindus) into one bucket.  Religion isn't the problem.  Religious cherry picking is the problem.

(jaw drops)

+1 and well said.

How are you going to limit the State sanctioning of marriage?  That is a reserved power protected by the 10th Amendment.  So unless you are going to change the Constitution, which will not happen.

I can assume, based on the timing of Ivo's post, that his comment was in reaction to Jason Collins announcing he was gay. That's what makes this a basketball-related topic. Where Ivo is almost certainly wrong (despite your beliefs) is that Mr. Collins is asking for 'special rights' (as assumed by other posters) or 'gay rights' (as stated by Ivo) as opposed to 'equal rights'. Now, this entire discussion is a microcosm of debates going on politically across this country, but Mr. Collins did not come out and state any specific right he expects to be afforded, other than saying that he wants to be judged on his basketball talents.

He did not speak in his original announcement (I have not seen everything he has said since) about marriage equality. He did not state that NBA teams should have at least one gay player on the team or that players should take sensitivity training. Those would be 'special rights'. He did not ask for the right to have his partner be able to sit with player wives or to receive equal or enhanced benefits for his partner (not to say he doesn't believe these things, yet he did not ask for them). He actually asked for nearly nothing. He wanted to come out on his own terms, not to be 'outed' by sensational media outlets. He wanted to start a conversation.

Yet I wonder if Ivo read the testimonial. I don't see what he saw that would have him state, 'Gay rights and all that nonsense, I give two thumbs down'. What right? To be able to play basketball while admitting who you are? To be able to, in his words, now sleep better at night? Are those the rights that Ivo is challenging? Because, again, Mr. Collins did not ask for anything further.

At this point,,,in a world of sound bites and media guiding the bleating sheep do you really think most folks actually read or pursue a story to figure out what they really think before they react and form an opinion with the limited information they have digested?

In 3 years of tweeting I have found him to be shallow and oft wondered if he did not have a  few "quote a day" and "inspirational" calendars he uses for his tweets. Those were fine and I found them pertinent. It is just recently since he actually started using his own thoughts that I found my jaw hitting the floor.

THe one thing that most folks are sure of...this conversation exists on a basketball board because we expect something better from the guys who represent us by wearing the uniform and become a face of the U. Maybe right, maybe wrong but sports personas are public figures associated with all who are part of the team they represent.

This such an excellent post. Well freaking done.

Being gay is a choice being black is God given so big difference.

you are joking right?

No kidding. So much straight up ignorance on display. This has been a very disappointing thread to churn through.

This is one of the more illuminating threads in recent Bobcat Attack history.