Here's a fascinating interview with Tim Hardaway, the retired basketball player who said in a radio interview earlier this month that he "hated" gay people. He says he's trying to atone for the hurtful remarks he made:

I want to get my s— together…. Right now, learning. Learning that gay people are really no different than a lot of other people. Learning that they work hard, they do things in the community, they are responsible for building parks, rec centers, providing safe environments for kids, just things I had never associated with them before. [This last week] has opened up my eyes to the gay population and what they do. I'm getting a lot of knowledge about them that I didn't have. Which is going to make me a better person. And if it doesn't, then I'm a damn fool.

At the same time, Hardaway says he still doesn't "condone what they [gay people] do." He points out that he grew up in a Chicago neighborhood where people avoided gay culture like the plague. He insists that gay basketball players who keep their sexual orientation a secret are betraying their teammates.

To be fair, lots of people share Hardaway's fears and prejudices. And why not? Many have grown up without any exposure to what it means to be gay except for the jokes of insecure teens and media images that constantly portray gay people as sexual predators. Once they actually spend time with people of another sexual orientation, they realize that, no, not all gay people want to hit on them. Living with a gay roommate is not an assault on their manhood. Whatever society has put into their heads about homosexuality being disgusting or immoral or against God's plan, they have the ability to think for themselves.

In recent months a good number of celebrities have gotten into trouble for bigoted remarks. It's fun to point and laugh, but people like Mel Gibson and Michael Richards and Tim Hardaway reflect the views of many other people in our society. So perhaps all the media attention will be a positive thing, in the end. Maybe it'll force us to reexamine our own prejudices.

By the same token, perhaps all the coverage of Britney Spears will inspire us to reconsider our prejudices against bald people who don't wear underwear. I'm not sure what the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith has to tell us, but I'll let you know if I do.

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen