NFL player’s support for gay marriage goes viral

Punter Chris Kluwe has become a nation sensation for his obscenity-laced rebuke of a Maryland lawmaker over same-sex marriage (AP photo)

When Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe wrote a pointed response to a Maryland state lawmaker who opposes gay marriage, he had no idea he would get the reaction that’s followed.

“I figured it would be a funny letter that would hopefully open some eyes in the sporting community. I was not expecting it to take off like it has, but that’s a good thing,” Kluwe tells Ross and Burbank.

Since writing the letter, the story has been widely reported by news outlets and Kluwe has fielded numerous interview requests.

>>>Read Chris Kluwe’s letter here (Warning: some language may be deemed offensive)

Kluwe jumped into the fray last week after Baltimore Ravens player Brendon Ayanbadejo spoke in favor of legalizing gay marriage in Maryland. Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. subsequently wrote to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, urging him to “inhibit such expressions from your employee.”

In a follow up letter sweeping the Internet, Kluwe wrote:

“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 C—monster,” he wrote.

“[I am] ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level,” he wrote, claiming that Burns violated the First Amendment by admonishing the Ravens. “It baffles me that a man such as yourself, a man who relies on that same First Amendment to pursue your own religious studies without fear of persecution from the state, could somehow justify stifling another person’s right to speech. To call that hypocritical would be to do a disservice to the word. [Amazing] obscenely hypocritical starts to approach it a little bit.”

Kluwe tells co-host Luke Burbank he felt it was too important an issue to not speak out about what he called “vitriolic hatred and bigotry.”

“As far as I see it, this is one of the defining civil rights issues of our current generation. You look back at history, you go back 50 years and it’s segregation, you go back 100 years it’s a woman’s right to vote, you go back 200 years it’s slavery. It’s the same struggle, it’s just a different name.”

Kluwe says he doesn’t think his opinion is unique and even though he’s one of only a few to speak out, there are plenty of players who share his views about gay marriage.

“It’s guys that have learned that it’s OK to have differing view points, it’s OK to respect what other people believe in and ultimately at the end of the day, it doesn’t really affect them. It’s not like all of a sudden guys in the locker room, if there’s gay marriage, there’s going to be wild orgies going on in the shower.”

Kluwe and the Minnesota Vikings travel to Seattle to take on the Seahawks Nov. 4.