Former NBA star Magic Johnson recently discussed his Christian faith while also saying he supports the gay community and his homosexual son.
In an interview on Anderson Cooper 360 that aired Monday, Johnson talked about issues such as his HIV, his Christian faith and his openly gay son, 20-year-old Earvin Johnson III.
“I go to church. I’m a Christian. But the reality is, my son is gay. That is the reality,” Earvin “Magic” Johnson told Cooper. “I love my son; nothing is going to change that.”
He added, “I don’t care if you don’t agree and you don’t want to deal with me or don’t like me; that is on you. But I said, ‘Tell me when it hits your own family,’ you know? Then you are going to have to make a decision.”
When Cooper asked if Johnson’s son, who came out as gay earlier this year, changed his perspective on gay people, he replied, “No, it didn’t change, because I’ve been working side by side with gays for a long time. I think what I wanted the gay community to do for me is to help my son, all right?”
“Give him the right information,” Johnson continued. “Help him to grow and be a good young man. Things that I can’t talk about, that I don’t know about, they can help him. So that is what I want.”
Earlier this year, Johnson spoke about gay rights and marriage equality on MSNBC’s broadcast of Advancing the Dream: Live From the Apollo.
“I’m fighting for those who should have the right to marry who they want and be the person that they want to be, because we have all different types of African-Americans around this country. Some are gay; some are heterosexual; and you should have the right to be who you want to be and [marry] who you want to marry.”
Johnson told MSNBC’s The Grio that regardless of criticisms, he and his wife support their son, EJ.
“I don’t care about the backlash,” he said. “If somebody doesn’t agree, that’s just tough on them. I’m gonna love my son until the end. He has a right to decide who he wants to be, who he wants to date and who he wants to marry, and he has decided that that’s a man, and that’s OK by us.
“I just hope that we understand that if our son or daughters decides to be gay, we should support them, and then let’s get on with the issues that are affecting our community in a big way.”
