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NFL’s Chris Kluwe does some beefcake for “Out”

When it comes to achieving LGBT equality, it is crucial to have straight allies willing to step up and speak out.

Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe is one of those people – spectacularly so.

“I’ve always relished breaking that stereotype of the dumb jock athlete because while I enjoyed athletics growing up, I also enjoyed reading and video games, and athletic sport is not what defines me as a person,” Kluwe says in the new issue of OUT Magazine for whom he did a beautiful photo shoot.

For Kluwe, taking a stand on gay rights is as instinctual as planting his foot into a ball.

“It’s all about the Golden Rule,” he says. “Treat other people as you want to be treated. It’s that simple. It’s something that needs to be spoken about, and it’s something I can do while fulfilling my job as a football player.”

Just as a reminder why we love Kluwe so much, here is his excoriating letter to Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. who had the gall to tell the Baltimore Ravens to “order” linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo to stop advocating for same-sex marriage:

“I find it inconceivable that you are an elected official of Maryland’s state government,” Kluwe’s letter started, reasonably enough. “Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level.” Kluwe then went on to dismantle Burns’s position, point by point, culminating in a crescendo of wit and impishness — and that now-fabled coinage. It’s worth running the penultimate paragraph in full, if only because it does such a good job of clarifying the issues:

“I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won’t come into your house and steal your children. They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won’t even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population — rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails. Do the civil-rights struggles of the past 200 years mean absolutely nothing to you?”

FILE UNDER: Sports, Straight Allies

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One Remark

  1. I just love this guy!

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