Magic Johnson Speaks On His Openly Gay Son's Coming Out

Magic Johnson wants the world to know that he loves his son E.J. regardless of his sexuality. During a recent interview with TMZ, Magic shared he always knew that E.J. was gay.

"We’ve known for a long, long time that my son EJ was gay," said Magic. "It’s interesting when you’re his parent and we finally had to sit down and talk about it. I told him, ‘Look, I’m going to love you regardless. Just let me know are you or aren’t you gay?’ and finally he just said, ‘Yes, I am.’"
Magic also added that he became a confidant for E.J. by breaking the tension and accepting him from early on in his teenage years.
"He had to have been about 12 or 13 years old or 14 years old. I think it was a hard conversation only because he was so young and what do you tell him at that age? [...] When I showed my support and love for him and I told him, ‘Hey I’m good with it. Just be you.’ And once I supported him I became [his confidant] and we could talk more about it. I love EJ soo much. That’s my main man, so I told him,’Nothing has changed. I just want to help you along the way because a lot of people are going to be happy for you and then some won’t understand. So you have to remember that you can always talk to me or your mother and we’ll just help you along the way.’"
Magic hopes that the response from people finding out that his son is gay opens up the discussion for acceptance of LGBT in the black community.
"It’s my son now and so I’m hoping they will understand that this is 2013 and we should stop discriminating against people and just support them and that’s what I’m going to do with my son […] I think this is going to be good for a lot of black young people, who want to come out. He is going to be that symbol of hope that they can now come out and tell their parents, tell their friends."