Here’s hoping Minnesota governor Mark Dayton stance on Chris Kluwe being ousted from the Minnesota Vikings bodes well for the state’s legislature upcoming vote on marriage equality. Dayton has weighed in on Monday’s announcement that Chris Kluwe has been cut from the Minnesota Vikings and suggested the equality advocate‘s outspoken support for LGBT issues played a major role in the decision.
Vikings manager Rick Spielman hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with the reason, merely stating that Kluwe “contributed to many victories and we wish Chris and his family the best and thank him for his contributions to the Vikings organization.” Dayton remains skeptical.
“I just think sports officials ought to be honest about what the heck is going on, same way I think public officials should be honest about what’s going on, so that bothers me probably as much, if not more, than the actual decision,” Dayton said.
“If you’re going to check and see who’s the better kicker under the pressure of an NFL season, seems to me you at least go into the exhibition games and have them both kicking under that kind of pressure,” Dayton suggested. “If you’re to have true competition, that’s how I would think you’d resolve it in a straightforward way.”
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Yet he’s pragmatic about it, adding, “But that’s their decision to make. They don’t give me political advice. I don’t give them coaching advice.”
Cam
Wow, times have changed when you have a state’s governor blasting a team for not being pro-gay.
ryanthehulk
I like Gov. Dayton, he said he was for legalizing gay marriage in MN during his election, so people who voted for him knew exactly what they were voting for. That’s why I voted for him.
BabyGurlJessi
What we need to do now is call for a boycott on any Company that supports or dose Business with the Minnesota Vikings Because this is an indirect attack on the LGBT community
miagoodguy
It’s just scarey that with no FACTS or PROOF, people say Kluwe was released because his opinions on gay marriage. His stats and salary clearly show why he was released. It is even scarier that an elected official is stating that a private entity needs to justify its internal decisions.
kayakriver
@miagoodguy: jeez, who are u? the scary police?
Aries3dc
@miagoodguy: I agree 100%. Anyone who actually follows the NFL knows that Chris was cut because of performance and his huge 2013 salary. And the fact that no new team has claimed him from the wavier wire yet only re-enforces this truth.
Jackhoffsky
If this was a performance and salary issue, there would have been some discussion and possibly some negotiations. The fact this firing came at the heels of several in-person interviews isn’t helping how this looks. So you can take all the statistics and speculations and realize that the owners decided to let him go when it would look the most obvious… and did it anyway instead of waiting until… I don’t know… practice or something when they could claim lack of team cohesion or whatever.
Kluwe has been a pretty honorable guy during all this. His twitter account has far more LGBT equality links than I will ever have. We owe it to our community to be skeptical and look at this in ‘big picture’ but as a guy who does more good in the world than I could possibly ever hope to achieve… I’m just going to give him a really big THANK YOU.
tdx3fan
From what I understand, Chris was completely unqualified for the pay he demanded. It has nothing to do with his personal life or personal views at all. It was a business decision. Just because one man (albeit a somewhat powerful man) thinks that there is more to the story does not actually make it so.
@Jackhoffsky: There is no need for discussion when you have already drafted a much better person to fill the role that is willing to work for less money (which is what the Vikings did). For that matter, not every decision made by sports teams sees media attention to begin with.
BabyGurlJessi
Seams to be more die hard Vikins fans on here then ones true to the LGBT community
miagoodguy
I wonder if babygurljessi knows the difference beyween a home run and touchdown. I guess you can oonly be “true” if you assume something without any evidence whatsoever even when there is tons of evidence showing the opposite.