NBA, ESPN mum on holding games in a place where gay and transgender people can face death

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No one wants to talk about the NBA playing preseason games in United Arab Emirates — not the NBA, not the Atlanta Hawks, not the Milwaukee Bucks, not ESPN.

As we relayed earlier this week, the league announced it is staging a pair of preseason games between the Bucks and Hawks in Abu Dhabi in October.

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H.E. Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, Director General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi and Ralph Rivera, Managing Director, NBA Europe and Middle East attends The NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2022 Announcement at Dubai World Trade Centre on May 10, 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Francois Nel/Getty Images)

The NBA and broadcast partner ESPN have been major supporters of LBGTQ rights in the U.S., but have said nothing about how the LBGTQ community has experienced massive human rights injustices in overseas locations where the NBA will soon hold games.

In Abu Dhabi, for instance, being gay or transgender is punishable by beatings or even death. It is considered a crime. Gay marriage is totally forbidden. Basically, anything but heterosexuality can get you in serious trouble.

The NBA and ESPN have to know this, as both have been very outspoken about all such issues here in the States. As we noted, the league pulled the 2016 All-Star Game out of Charlotte because of a bathroom bill passed in North Carolina.

So the NBA won’t allow its All-Stars to perform in a city that passes a very basic law regarding gender and bathroom use, but it will send its teams to a place where a gay person can legally be killed just for being gay?

H.E. Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, Director General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi and Ralph