Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe
argued in an op-ed Sunday that a gay player in the NFL would not be a
distraction.
Kluwe, who has argued in favor of gay
marriage, said that professional athletes are hounded by officials to
sacrifice personal goals for the team.
“The message is pushed on us so hard,
in fact, that players run the very real risk of losing their jobs if
the team deems them too much of a distraction, and unfortunately it
seems gay players feel that being comfortable with who they are has
to take second place to keeping their jobs,” Kluwe
wrote in a CNN op-ed.
“This isn't right.”
“It's not right that professional
sports, and especially the professional sports media, have created an
environment where gay players are willing to hide essential
components of themselves as human beings in order to pursue their
dreams, in order to not be a distraction. It's not right that our
insatiable lust for sports coverage creates an atmosphere where
someone would willingly subordinate his life to a backward and
bigoted worldview in order to stay employed.”
Kluwe told fans and media that an
openly gay player would only be a distraction “if you make it one.”
“Players – those of you worried
about a gay teammate checking out your ass in the shower, or hitting on
you in the steam room, or bringing too much attention to the team –
I have four simple words for you. Grow the f*** up. This is our
job, we are adults, so would you kindly act like one?”
“And finally, to the gay player who
does eventually come out, whoever that brave individual happens to be
– will you have to deal with media attention, with heightened
scrutiny? Yes. Despite everything Brendon [Ayanbadejo], Scott
[Fujita], myself, and all your other allies do, despite all the
articles we write and interviews we give, despite the growing
acceptance across this entire country, there are going to be people
who insist on looking at you through the lens of your sexuality, and
not at your skills as a football player. But you know what? All of us
understand the truth.”
“You are a teammate, a friend, and
you do not have to sacrifice who you are for the team to win, no
matter what anyone else says.”