What Donald Sterling gets wrong about Magic Johnson, HIV and history

Magic Johnson smiles for a picture with members of an AAU girls basketball team in Saginaw, Mich., on April 29. Johnson returned to Saginaw for the”Magic of a Promise” fundraiser for the Saginaw Promise Scholarship. (Neil Barris/The Saginaw News via Associated Press)

When CNN first released excerpts of disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s sit-down with anchor Anderson Cooper, one of the odder moments in the highlight reel was Sterling’s criticisms of Magic Johnson as a role model. The full interview revealed the reason: Sterling thinks Johnson is an embarrassment because of his sexual history and the fact that he is HIV positive.
That is an ugly, retrograde sentiment that shames people who contracted the virus because of their sexual history. And Sterling also profoundly misunderstands the ways in which Johnson’s HIV diagnosis actually led him to make enormous contributions. Johnson has not just been a role model to the “children of Los Angeles” Sterling said should be his focus, but also an ambassador who changed America’s understanding of his disease.
When Johnson revealed his HIV status in 1991, many Americans still thought that the disease was limited to gay men, and in particular to white gay men, even as the virus jumped populations. Johnson alluded to that in his remarkable news conference announcing his diagnosis and his retirement from the Lakers
“We think, well, only gay people can get it, it’s not going to happen to me,” Johnson said, explaining his decision to focus on HIV and safe sex education and advocacy, which he would do through his Magic Johnson Foundation. “And here I am, saying it can happen to anybody, even me, Magic Johnson.”
In coming out, Johnson provided a radically different image of what it meant to live with HIV. He was African American, heterosexual, married (he emphasized his relief that his wife had tested negative) and outwardly healthy.
“My strength is fine; I can work out and do everything a normal person can do,” he said, urging his fellow NBA players to get tested and to learn their statuses.
Johnson himself said he got tested only because he needed to as part of the process of purchasing a life insurance policy. In his coming-out press conference, Johnson ceded the stage to a group of doctors, giving them an opportunity to explain to sports reporters the medical consensus on how to treat HIV and the prognosis for survival.
Despite his retirement, Johnson would come back to play professional basketball again, being named MVP of the All-Star Game in 1992 and playing on the Dream Team in the Olympics that same year. It was a remarkable illustration of what life with HIV could be.
He did not do it alone, and without the support of his league and teammates, either. Professional sports sometimes get a bad rap for lagging on social issues: Michael Sam’s selection by the St. Louis Rams in this year’s NFL draft will finally make him the first openly gay athlete in that league. Johnson’s case provided a reminder of how sports can lead, rather than follow.
Such was Johnson’s power as a player that he enlisted the NBA to support him in his announcement. Lakers teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was by Johnson’s side at his press conference, and then-NBA commissioner David Stern was also on the dais, speaking at length after Johnson ceded the stage.