Hall of Fame hooper and vocal straight-shooter Charles Barkley doesn’t talk like your typical athlete when it comes to LGBTQ culture. That’s not to say the average athlete harbors ill will toward the gay community, but only that Barkley is in a different league with his outspokenness in support of gender equality, often referring to his gay and transgender friends.
An interview Barkley did with CNN in the wake of the mass shooting at a LGBTQ club in Colorado is now making the rounds on social media. Barkley is taking a little heat for saying that the Black community is less understanding than most (“we are the worst” he says) when it comes to gender discrimination. It’s something that “always bothered” him, Barkley says, growing up.
Barkley speaks out of his own anecdotal experience, but scholars at the University of Denver — in a paper called ‘Queer Is the New Black? Not So Much: Racial Disparities in Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination‘ — found that “racial minorities experience even greater levels of anti-LGBTQ discrimination than do White LGBTQ people.” Much of that discrimination takes place in communities populated largely by people of similar racial makeup.
The Media uses Charles Barkley Self hate to spread anti -blackness … https://t.co/NtCFzFGLTA
— 19keys.eth (@19keys_) November 21, 2022
But the larger point of Barkley’s message isn’t about his casting one community as the chief culprit or villain in widespread discrimination against LGBTQ people. Barkley’s main message is a plea for inclusiveness and openness. He thinks the discrimination — based on race or gender identity — is “sad and stupid.”
“I wanted to reach out to you and all my gay friends, all my transgender friends,” Barkley said, “and tell you, man, I got nothing but love and respect for you. I want you to be you.”
Barkley claimed a special understanding of what gay people go through, he says, because he is Black, and he has faced similar discrimination. “I understand,” Barkley said, “being Black, what it’s like being gay because you get mistreated and it’s really unfortunate and sad and stupid, to be honest with you.”
