Opinion: You Can’t Hide the Truth
In response to the Minnesota Vikings’ refusal to release the results of their internal investigation into former player and Pro Ambassador Chris Kluwe’s accusations of homophobia, Athlete Ally Executive Director Hudson Taylor wrote an editorial for the Vikings’ hometown paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In it, he salutes Kluwe’s allyship and calls for the Vikings to follow through on their promise.
At great personal risk, Kluwe evaluated his situation and took action. We don’t know if there was a gay player on the team at the time, but Kluwe recognized that even though he wasn’t the target of Priefer’s words, he was in a position to expose them and to help change them. A professional athlete has spoken out and declared that he found the biases against LGBT people in his clubhouse to be so egregious that he could not in good conscience remain silent. We urge the Vikings to do the right thing and release the report publicly, to give us all an opportunity to learn how to be better allies.
Kluwe personifies allyship. His is the kind of allyship that defined Pee Wee Reese generations ago when he helped to combat racism after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. It is the kind of allyship that failed to emerge for Lisa Olson when she fought her battle against sexism in the NFL by herself. Kluwe’s allyship has defined him now as an example of what real leadership is about, what sportsmanship is about. If nothing else, let us hope this story encourages more athletes, at every level of play, to follow Kluwe’s example, to demonstrate their allyship and to end discrimination in sports.
You can read the full article here.