Former Philadelphia 76er and Duke University basketball player Shavlik Randolph has made the Portland Trailblazers 18-man roster. He is widely believed to be in a battle for a final spot on the team with two other players, inluding former University of Oregon star Luke Jackson.

It turns out that Mr. Randolph isn’t so fond of gay players. He was one of a handful of players who offered boneheaded responses to former NBA player John Amaechi’s coming out in February of 2007.

Here is a portion of Randolph’s Wikipedia entry:

In February 2007, sports columnist Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post singled out Randolph’s comments in reaction to learning of ex-NBA player John Amaechi’s admission of homosexuality as ‘idiotic’. On playing with a gay player, Randolph was quoted as telling reporters, “As long as you don’t bring your gayness on me, I’m fine.” In that same article, Wilbon also offered his opinion that Randolph, a player with a well-documented spiritual nature, is someone “who likes to throw his religious beliefs in everybody’s face”

Portland is a gay-friendly town and our team - our only major sports team - should strive to reflect our values. Here’s to hoping the Blazers stick to their recent practice of employing players for whom Portland can be proud or that Luke Jackson has a helluva preseason.

Rob Mathias works for a Portland Oregon Internet Marketing Company.

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