Video, NBA star: ‘No one can tell me I can’t have two mothers, because I really do’
An American NBA star has recorded a video introducing his two mothers, and in it he says “Nobody can ever tell me that I can’t have two mothers, because I really do.”
In the video, posted 25 January by One Colorado, an LGBT advocacy group, Kenneth Faried, of the Denver Nuggets, introduces his mothers, talks about them getting married, and his birth mother’s illness.
He says: “The mom to my right is Manasin Faried and the mom to my left is my birth mother, Waudda Faried, and basically I support civil unions. Well they do too, because they’re married, so I hope they will. But I really do support civil unions because it gives people, gays and lesbians, the right to make decisions on their own. If they want to get married, and choose who they want to be with.
Manasin says: “We had our ups and we had our downs, but our love for each other has always been strong, and is still steady, even to this day eleven years later.”
Then Waudda Faried, who has suffered from lupus and diabetes says: “I was real sick, we were supposed to be the number one [couple] to get married in New Jersey, and we ended up being number five because I kept getting sick. But we were number five gay couple that’s married, and we’ve been together eleven years, so it was a long road, but were here to tell about it.”
Kenneth, who is nicknamed ‘Manimal’, and is highly commended for his hard work as a basketball player, continues: “When they first got married I was kind of mad, because I wasn’t there. I was really upset because I wanted to see the matrimony of them getting married and the beauty of it all, but I was trying to do my thing at college, so they understood.
“My mother was always getting sick so she could not wait any longer, she was running back and forth, in and out of hospital, so it’s kind of upsetting in the present for me. With Manasin, she was always there for her, and even when my mother gets crazy at time, and wants to kill everybody, it seems like, she still is there for her, and that is what made me love her that much more. Because without her being there for her, I wouldn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in, and I wouldn’t be able to be telling my story today.
“I was really happy that she did walk into our lives. That happy day remains in my mind deeply, and no matter what I’m going to always call her mother.”
He concludes by saying: “Nobody can ever tell me that I can’t have two mothers, because I really do.”
The subject of coming out, and homophobia in sport has been globally topical of late, particularly in the US, which recently held its Super Bowl annual championship game.
In the US there is currently no openly gay player in the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association or National Hockey League.
