Chris Kluwe turns down White House LGBT event with humorous letter to Obama
NFL star and LGBT rights campaigner Chris Kluwe, has made the headlines for the first time since being dropped by his team, and picked up by another, as he wrote a humorous letter to President Obama to decline an invitation to a White House LGBT event.
Kluwe recently announced that he had been dropped by the Minnesota Vikings, saying that “making people aware of an issue that is causing children to commit suicide is more important than kicking a leather ball.” Some reports suggested his equal rights advocacy was the reason he was dropped.
The punter has since been picked up by the Oakland Raiders, and posted a photograph of the letter he sent to the White House in response to an invitation to an LGBT event.
It read: “Dear Mr President (or whoever reads these things, I’m sure he’s probably pretty busy (hello underappreciated email answering person!))”
He jokingly went on to say that he could not attend, but that he would have been honoured, if he was not contractually obliged to attend practice with the Raiders.
“I would really really REALLY like to be there, but unfortunately not even the President of the United State is allowed to supercede an NFL mandatory mini-camp practice (at least insomuch as I understand the new CBA, though I could possibly be mistaken) … if anything else were to ever come up, it would be my distinct honor to attend. Unless we have a game. Or practice. Or mandatory hot yoga classes (we don’t really have those).”
He went on to suggest that an F35 jet could pick him up, in order for him to make a late dinner, but said it “seems an extremely unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Chris Kluwe made the headlines in September when he defended Brendon Ayanbadejo, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens, against a call from Delegate Emmett C Burns Jr, to reprimand Ayanbadejo, who recorded a video for a gay rights advocacy group In October 2011.
In a response to Burns, he 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 cockmonster.”
He and Ayanbadejo, wrote an amicus brief, and filed it, urging the Supreme Court to act against legislation preventing equal marriage.
Last week, Kluwe joined Michelle Obama, and thousands of others, in tweeting a message of support for the US’s first openly gay player in any major team sport, Jason Collins, of the NBA, who came out in a piece for Sports Illustrated magazine.
