Heroes, Liars & Double Standards
- Details
- Category: Lifestyle/People
- Published: Thursday, 23 May 2013 14:03
Recently, I've taken pause at the celebration of the NBA player Jason Collins who came out as a homosexual athlete. His sexuality is not my issue. My issue is his deceptive conduct.
Spending eight years deceiving his college sweetheart into thinking he was going to marry her, have kids and grow old – even taking her to the point of planning the wedding – this is what I find incomprehensible.
Why on earth are women celebrating this down low brother who managed to keep a woman for eight years while living another life? Assuming they have slept together in the eight year relationship, she has to be concerned with being at risk for Aids and other STDs. Not to mention the overall psychological effect this has to have had on her.
But everyone is so celebratory of his coming out they fail to see his actions are part of the reason that many married women are coming up with HIV/Aids.
There is no reason to celebrate here.
I simply see a deceptive human being who really didn't care about anyone but himself, wasting part of a young woman's best years using her to conceal his real lifestyle.
This situation has me asking some other questions too. Like, would the public reaction have been different if his deception had been an affair another woman? Of course not!
Also might the reaction from the African American female community been much harsher had it been a black woman he deceived?
As a woman, I am outraged that he is being hailed as some sort of pioneering hero.
Now, the First Lady has asked him to join her in a fundraiser. I have to disagree with our leadership as being gay is not the only message Jason is sending. Living two lives is a big issue when it comes to sexuality because other people get hurt.
It seems as though the message here is that it's ok to hide your sexuality even at the cost of someone wasting their time and going through emotional trauma. If, in the end you get congratulated for choosing when and how you will end the deception, what is the lesson?
I think all women need to ask themselves,"What if the woman was me?"
Just keeping it real ...