MAGIC AND EJ JOHNSON…AND OTHERS

God giveth and He taketh away.

In order to live a happy life, when God taketh away, we human beings must somehow search for and find the good in it.

Silver linings.

Lemons to lemonade.

Religion.

Faith.

Hope.

Charity.

Therapy.

You know the drill.

On November 7, 1991 Earvin (Magic) Johnson stunned the basketball world and worlds beyond, when he announced that he was H.I.V. positive and was retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers, effective immediately.

At the time, H.I.V./AIDS was widely considered a “gay disease,” a fallacious notion that Johnson’s case helped to dispel.

The shocking announcement was made as his wife, Cookie, was two months pregnant with the couple’s first child, Earvin Johnson III.

Cookie feared that she and the fetus might be H.I.V. positive as well — to say nothing of the heart-breaking revelation that her husband had contracted the virus from another — or other — sexual partner(s).

She and the fetus tested negative.

EJ was born the following June to parents who were charting choppy waters in the form of a medical crisis, a marital meltdown and a publicity disaster.

As it does, life went on.

EJ knew nothing of his father’s health issue until elementary school, and he wasn’t made aware of it through cruel schoolyard taunting, as is sadly, so often the case.

Rather, when the boy was assigned a book report, he went to the library and found a book about his dad.

“The school called my mom and was like, ‘We don’t know if you want him to do the book report, because it talks about the H.I.V.,’” EJ recalled.

“I think it was at that point that they told me that he had been sick and he’s a lot better.”

May we never devalue the wonder and innocence of youth.

When EJ was eighteen and about to leave for college at NYU, he came out to both parents with conviction.

He had been grappling with his sexuality since his mid-teens.

His father, wary of the stigma faced by gay men in general, and due to his H.I.V. status in particular, responded by warning EJ how difficult life could — and probably would — be.

But EJ had a strong self-image and high self-esteem.

“I’m pretty comfortable with myself,” he volunteered.

Magic was worried nonetheless.

“As a parent, I wanted EJ to know that we loved him and would always love him,” he began. “My job as a father is to protect him. His family and those that know him would always love him, but there would be people that don’t know him and may not approve. Some people may not be nice, but it wasn’t about him. I wanted to prepare him and let him know that I would always support him.”

That didn’t mean it would be easy.

In fact, initially Magic didn’t take the news well.

At all.

“We had the talk with Dad, and that was a little tough,” Cookie revealed. “My husband is the kind of person like he reacts quickly. Everything that came to the top of his head, he just let it out.”

Cookie continued, explaining that the conversation turned hurtful.

She recalled Magic saying to EJ in her presence, “This is not what I wanted for my son. And do you realize what you’re saying because the world is not going to like that and do you want to live this life?”

Cookie confided, “It hurt my feelings and I know it probably hurt [EJ’s] feelings. Afterwards, I told him, I said, ‘I thought that was a little tough. That wasn’t right…’”

The next day Magic apologized to both, and eventually, common ground was reached and lovingly shared.

Over the past few years, EJ Johnson has been open about his sexuality and his perspective on gender, embracing his position as a gender-flouting role model.

He is living his dreams, pursuing with a vengeance his innate inclination toward fashion and design.

His skills and talents as a make-up artist are undeniable.

When he’s skewered by the trolls and gaslighters on social media, he responds, “It’s almost like they’re attacking me for being me and so to that I can only say, ‘Well, I can only be myself, so I don’t know really what you want me to do.’”

“I am very, very, very blessed to have the family that I do,” EJ remarked. “My parents have always been super supportive. My sister and I have always been really close and she’s been really supportive as with my brother. When it was time to come out, I was, obviously, scared as most people are.

After I got all the love and support from my family then I knew I could go out and conquer the world, I guess.”

“I definitely want to set a really good example,” he said proudly.

And why shouldn’t EJ Johnson be proud?

And happy?

Isn’t everyone deserving of at least that?

[This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in November 2020.]