| Kluwe is hardly ever afraid to make his views known. (US Presswire |
One of these days -- maybe not very soon, but some day -- an NFL player will reveal that he is gay, the world likely will not explode and life (and football) will go on as normal. Until then, athletes continue to say basically that they’re cool with it.
In 2011, Michael Irvin came out in support of gay marriage to mirror the opinions of Donte Stallworth and Brendon Ayanbadejo. Michael Strahan even went as far as to appear in a video touting marriage equality.
Now, outspoken Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has joined the cause, telling Outsports.com that he’s opposed to a November ballot initiative in Minnesota that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
To show his support for the cause,Kluwe has done three radio ads for the Minnesotans for Equality group.
"I’ve always believed that people are inherently the same and should have the same rights and equal protection under the law,” Kluwe said. “It really doesn’t matter what you do with who or whom as long as you’re not infringing on someone else’s rights. Everyone should be free to live their own life however it makes them happy. … Whatever else they want me to do, I’m more than happy to speak up about it.”
One reason Irvin eventually spoke out on the matter is because one of his brothers is gay, and one of Kluwe’s wife’s brothers also is gay. That’s not the reason he’s doing the ads, Kluwe said. But he also realizes that the cultural landscape on this issue is changing, as is the locker room atmosphere.
“It’s a very machismo-type football culture,” he said. “The past 100 years of football have been about it being a guy’s guy sport and you have to shrug everything off and you could never show weakness. For a lot of people, they were raised that being gay is either a weakness or a sin, so it’s tough for a lot of guys to get past that kind of cultural conditioning.
“But I think views are changing and I think they’ve changed enough to where I think that while it would be tough to come out, there would be support there."
Here’s one of Kluwe’s radio ads.
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