求同存異

The NBA saw a major milestone this past year， as veteran center Jason Collins disclosed he was gay in a personal essay published on April 29 in Sports Illustrated. As we approach opening night， Collins isn’t on an NBA roster. If he remains an unsigned free agent， will his announcement go down as merely symbolic， or will it have a more lasting， meaningful effect？

在過去的這一年，當(dāng)老將中鋒賈森·科林斯在4月29日的《體育畫報》上親自撰寫的一篇文章中透露自己是同性戀時，NBA見證了一個重要的里程碑時刻。當(dāng)我們距離賽季揭幕戰(zhàn)越來越近時，科林斯卻仍沒有加入任何一支球隊。如果他一直維持未簽約的自由球員身份，那么他的出柜聲明到底僅具有象征意義，還是具有更持久、更有意義的效果？

Today offers us an opportunity to explore that question.

今天，我們終于有機(jī)會討論這個問題。

Not long before Jason Collins came out to the world， I sat with an NBA head coach in an empty gym after his team’s practice. In the few years I’ve been talking with players， coaches or execs as a gay journalist about the implications of an openly gay player， the gravitation has been toward those I perceived would be most accepting and comfortable. When we want to classify these guys， we often call them enlightened and smart， even if what we really mean is that they share our cultural sensibilities.

就在賈森·科林斯出柜前不久，我和一個NBA球隊的主教練在他的球隊結(jié)束訓(xùn)練后，一起坐在空蕩的球館里聊天。過去幾年，我以一個同性戀記者的身份，和球員、教練甚至球隊管理層交流過一個公開同性戀身份的球員會給球隊帶來的影響。對此我感受的回應(yīng)大多是包容以及滿意的。當(dāng)我們想給這些人做出分類時，我們通常將他們稱為開明以及睿智的人，盡管我們的真正意思不過是，他們和我們一起熟悉人情世故。

This coach doesn’t fall into that group. He’s razor-sharp and intellectually curious-- and he happens to be devoted to the idea that a specific collection of texts① should serve as our moral authority. If I wanted a true pulse on the collective sentiment of those in the basketball world about the climate for a gay player， it was time to start conversations with people who subscribed to different creeds， people like this head coach.

這個教練卻不屬于這種人。他言辭犀利，而且相當(dāng)好學(xué)。碰巧，他還是那種堅信我們該把某些文字當(dāng)作道德教條的一類人。如果我想真正了解籃球界對同性戀球員到底有什么樣的看法，那么我現(xiàn)在該去交流的，是那些和我們擁有不同信仰的人，比如這位教練。

Over the course of our chat， which covered topics ranging from theology to how values are instilled in human beings， this coach offered up a prediction： An active NBA player would come out pretty soon. The public reaction to the announcement would be positive. A few high-profile players and coaches would voice overwhelming support for the player， and the media would celebrate the moment.

我們從宗教一直聊到價值觀是如何灌輸?shù)饺藗冃闹羞@些話題，在交流過程中，這名教練向我做了一個預(yù)言：很快就會有現(xiàn)役NBA球員出柜。這個聲明會贏得公眾積極的反饋。一些高知名度的球員和教練會給予出柜的球員 大力支持，媒體會對這一時刻歡呼雀躍。……