The following is the full text of Jon Blau's interview with John Amaechi at 4:25 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007.
On his time at Penn State:
"Penn State was a really significant time in my life. What I tell people is it was probably the most fun I've ever had, being at Penn State, being involved in all the things I was involved in. It wasn't just the basketball - more the student organizations (involved with Second Mile, Big brothers, Big sisters)."
On how involved he was in the gay community at Penn State:
"Not very, not at all. It seemed incongruous to the job I was trying to do. Looking at it from my perspective I wasn't made to be an NBA player. I had to work really hard to get to America to find a college scholarship. My job in college was to play basketball really, really well. That's what the focus was. It's not like I went around with a lot of fake girlfriends, either. I just didn't do anything really."
On the importance of basketball and his studies:
"Those two components were important, but also being a part of the community of Penn State and University Park, as well, was very important. Those things took up all of my time. During the studying and the playing of basketball."
On hearing that teammates, such as Dan Earl and Rahsaan Carlton, said his sexuality wouldn't have been a problem with them if they had known he was gay:
"I don't think that's really realistic. It's lovely, if you are talking about my Ex-Penn State teammates. Again, I love them for saying that, I think that is fantastic. It's lovely to hear that, but it's really, really naïve, isn't it? If that were the case, there would be loads of out basketball players, right? If that's the case, there wouldn't be an issue with lesbians in basketball, right? So, I think we have already proved that wrong."
On Rene Portland/Jen Harris:
"The specifics of that situation are really less important to me than the global responsibility that universities, and institutions of higher learning, have to create an atmosphere for everybody to best learn. That's the responsibility, and I think Penn State really wants that. This kind of whole conflict has made Penn State look back and I don't like that as an alumni."
On if there is a specific problem at Penn State in terms of sexual orientation discrimination:
"It's more global than that. Do you think that LGBT students on campus really only consume themselves with what the school and university thinks? That have to have to be concerned with what the overall society says. Especially in this country you can't see your cat before you come across somebody who wants to damn you to hell."
On how long it will take until there is equality for homosexuals in American society:
"It's going to take a long time. If there is this much fuss over an average NBA player, that's self-explanatory. It's going to take a long time. There is work to be done before we expect the elite athletes to be our vanguards and take all the risks. There is work to be done. Sometimes you have to take some baby steps toward them before people are more open to the dialogue."
On the timing of the book release, the week the Jen Harris lawsuit was settled:
"Trust me when I say this. What I have done is not about Rene Portland. What I have done is far more global. It's not about 300 men in the NBA, either. This is about young kids in their high school who can't walk down their corridor without having things thrown at them. This is about people in their workplace in 33 states who have been fired for being gay. And yes, this is about sport. But it's that way around, not the other."
On changing more than sports:
"It is about that, but it's not all of it. It's society. I'm kind of grandiose in that way. I want to change the world. I don't want to just change sport. The NBA is going to change because it has David Stern in it, who wants to change it. I want to make sure that the world is a more open and embracing place for all men. Not just gay people. This issue is about sexism, and issues about racism and final resolve. Whether that be on college campuses or in the work place."
On how he wants to be remembered in State College (either great Penn State basketball player or the first openly gay NBA player, who played at Penn State):
"I think both are equally lame, because I'm not just that. I didn't stop being one person two weeks ago and started being something else. My definition is not wrapped by, such as my being is not wrapped up, in how I put a ball in a hole. It's also not wrapped in being a gay person. It's just a part of it.
"People want to talk about what I really stand for, my philosophies. The book I put out is 300 pages. Thirty pages of that rest on anything gay. The rest of it is about my philosophy, my beliefs, what I feel, the advancement, the development of individuals and organizations, and how to be better. That's how I want to be remembered."
On frustrations over people pinning him into one mold or the other, as stated above:
"I can't control what people find titillating, but I can control what I use the exposure for, and it's the same way I used basketball as a foot in a door and make the world better I will use this for the very same thing."
On what he would say to those who accuse him of trying to make money off of coming out:
"I would say, 'Grow up' and learn a little bit about the publishing industry. Another proposition, I am not J.K. Rowling. I don't get $7 million quid [pounds] up front. The book was so I could have a coherent, constricted message come out all at once, without people trying to have people wrapped in some blogs, bits of articles, little bits of the newspapers, the radio, and the television and try to fashion it into a message that would look like Frankenstein monster.
"I want people to read one coherent message from me, and then we can have a conversation. Then we can argue, then we can discuss."
On being uncomfortable during the coming out process:
"I have to answer a lot of questions that aren't necessarily either good or show a great deal of ignorance, but that is part of the process of educating people, and I'm up for it. You know, I'm a very private person, so to do this is a little bit overexposed, naturally."
On hearing that Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis and others were happy to hear that he was "comfortable with his sexuality" at this point in his life:
"I would never expect anything different from the people at Penn State, quite frankly. I knew that the people I was around was a very good bunch. A very good bunch. Ed DeChellis is a fine man and I just don't, I didn't expect anything different from the likes of him or Dan Earl or most of the people you've talked to."
On memories of DeChellis when he recruited him:
"I remember him being firmly sarcastic. Which I love, naturally, and I remember him being just a really cute basketball brain and a very good basketball brain. I don't have to remember, because I see him quite often. It's not a question of having to reminisce about him. I know what he's like. I talk to him on a very regular basis - just about every week."
On the Penn State men's basketball team's current struggles:
"I think, sometimes you have difficult periods like this. Yes, I feel bad that they are not winning like I believe they can, but they will. They will prevail if they keep working. They have a good staff there, and they have a good group - I don't want to say kids - because it makes me sound old. They've got a good group of people, and I'm confident that they will move in the right direction."
On if he would ever come out to someone like DeChellis or head coach Bruce Parkhill:
"Nobody. It wasn't a question of him, or Bruce. Nobody. The thing, that people really need to get their minds around is not everybody in your Daily Collegian office that is gay feels comfortable coming out, so why would a recognizable athlete on a college campus feel comfortable coming out?
"If someone who you know wouldn't feel comfortable coming out, why would an athlete feel comfortable coming out. It's not just about the potential financial ruin, it's about the psychological and emotional readiness of the individual. It's much more complex then a lot of people would like it to be."
On the global issue of homophobia:
"You don't have to deal with people, you don't have to be particularly intuitive to even know that this is an issue. Again, when every person who works in your average shop, when every person who is in every school, high school, university. When the majority of these people feel comfortable coming out then you can talk about society that's accepting. Then you can talk about a society that embraces. But unless you are suggesting that all of these gay and lesbian people have some kind of unfounded paranoia, then there is something out there that prevents this from happening."
On how hard the coming out process has been:
"Again, I'm a very private person. This is very uncomfortable, but this is all-important, that's all. No, no. I'm going to use this to bring change. I'm not going to go away. I'm going to make it go away. I'm going to make people open their minds and have conversations and change.
"Nothing changes. I'm not a different person today than I was yesterday or a week before. What I'm saying is that this becomes one of the things I'm working on, that's it. It becomes an addition - that's it."
