It's a safe bet he wouldn't be taking this step if he didn't receive the reaction he did. I think it's safe to say he wouldn't have taken the first step without the reaction he got. After the first step, though, I'm not so sure. I did kind of get the sense, reading between the lines, that he really did get his eyes opened somehow. Perhaps someone that he knows and loves came to him and said, "Dude, I'm gay. I'm one of them. When you say you hate gays, that's me you're hating." Perhaps he heard some stories that really horrified him, spending time with a group that tries to reduce the suicide risk for gay/trans youth. Maybe he learned, from someone on the other side, what it feels like to be hated. Being confronted with that reality is what makes you have to choose whether you're going to act like a human being or not. Hating, truly hating, diminishes your own humanity, and when most people get that in their face, they really will choose not to hate.
I thought it was impressive that Hardaway has refused interviews in order to not look like "his work with advocacy groups seem like a publicity stunt or a quick-fix to an image problem." The people at YES seem to be in the best position to make an honest assessment of his progress and they seem to be convinced. So I am too. Good on Tim.
