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Chris Kluwe’s Anti-LGBT Discrimination Settlement Gets 5 Charities ‘Substantial Amount’

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Fired former NFL punter and LGBT supporter Chris Kluwe has reached a settlement with his former employer, which he says includes “a substantial amount” for five charities.

Chris Kluwe was a star punter for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. He was also a dedicated supporter of the LGBT community, first coming to national attention when he penned an hysterical attack on a state lawmaker in defense of a fellow NFL player’s support of LGBT civil rights.

“I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life,” Kluwe wrote in a lengthy letter in 2012 to Maryland Delegate and Baltimore Baptist Minister Emmett C. Burns. “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.”

LOOK: Ellen Says Chris Kluwe’s Activism ‘Is How You Change The World’

“You know what having these rights will make gays?,” Kluwe continued, in defense of Baltimore Ravens’ Brendon Ayanbadejo, who was under attack by Del. Burns for his support of LGBT people. “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?”

Ultimately, Ayanbadejo was fired, some believe for his support of LGBT civil rights. And ultimately, so was Kluwe.

But Kluwe, after taking some time to think, concluded that even though he isn’t gay, he was the victim of anti-LGBT discrimination, and the Vikings had a culture of homophobia they needed to address. 

He made those claims very public, forcing the Vikings to launch an outside investigation.

When they refused to release the full findings of that investigation — including all they learned about one of the Vikings’ coaches whom Kluwe accused of extreme anti-gay comments, Kluwe threatened a lawsuit.

LOOK: Kluwe: Vikings Coach Wanted To ‘Round Up All The Gays, Send Them To An Island, And Nuke It’

The parties have now settled.

 

 

Image by Tim Evanson via Flickr
Hat tip: Cyd Zeigler of Outsports

 

Previously at The New Civil Rights Movement:

Brendon Ayanbadejo Poses Nude For NoH8 Because ‘A Real Man Supports Equality’

Brendon Ayanbadejo: Chris Kluwe Was Cut For Being Pro-Gay

How Super Bowl XLVII Turned Into A Contest Over Gay Rights

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‘You Always Ask Me the Nicest Questions’: Biden Takes Down Doocy as Press Conference Nears End

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January 19, 2022

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About 90 minutes into President Joe Biden’s press conference, just as it was about to end, Fox News’ Peter Doocy called out a question and the President was only too happy to indulge him.

“You always ask me the nicest questions,” President Biden jovially responded to Doocy’s yelling, adding: “None of them make a lot of sense to me.”

Apparently desperate to prove him wrong, the Fox News correspondent declared, “Why are you trying in your first year so hard to pull the country so far to the left?”

President Biden didn’t get angry. He merely replied, “Well, I’m not.”

“I don’t know what you consider to be ‘too far to the left,'” President Biden continued, proceeding to rattle off a list of accomplishments that are pretty well-received and supported.

“In fact, we’re talking about making sure that we had the money for COVID making sure we had the money to put together the bipartisan infrastructure and making sure we’re able to provide for those things that in fact, we significantly reduced the burden on working class people but make them have to continue to work hard. I don’t know how that is pointed to the left. If you may recall. I, you guys have been trying to convince me that I am Bernie Sanders. I’m not, I like him but I’m not Bernie Sanders. I’m not a socialist. I’m a mainstream Democrat and I have been.”

“48 of the 50 Democrats supported me in the Senate on virtually every thing I’ve asked.”

President Biden then continued to take questions for a total of nearly two hours. The press conference is ongoing as of this publishing.

Watch:

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News

‘Name Me One Thing’: Biden Blasts Republicans for Not Being ‘For’ Anything

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January 19, 2022

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During his press conference Wednesday afternoon President Joe Biden blasted the Republican Party, suggesting they stand for nothing.

“Think about this: What are Republicans for?” the President asked. “What are they for? Name me one thing they’re for.”

“And so, the problem here is, I think what I have to do,” Biden said, noting a change in tactics, “I have to make clear to the American people what we are for,” referring to his Democratic Party.

Republicans during the 2020 presidential election literally stood for nothing: they didn’t bother to craft a 2020 platform.

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BREAKING NEWS

Manchin Moves to Upstage Biden: Schedules Speech on Filibuster During Presidential Press Conference

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2 hours ago

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January 19, 2022

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U.S. Senator Joe Manchin is taking a page out of fellow pro-filibuster Democrat Krysten Sinema’s book: giving a Senate floor speech during a critical presidential event.

Senator Sinema chose to be MIA during President Joe Biden’s rare trip to Capitol Hill recently to meet with Senate Democrats to shake hands and twist arms to convince holdouts to support changes to the filibuster so they can pass his democracy-protecting agenda.

Senator Manchin has chosen to schedule a Senate floor speech on preserving the filibuster at 4:30 PM ET, smack-dab in the middle of President Biden’s rare press conference, this one taking a look at his first year in office.

News via HuffPost’s senior politics reporter Jennifer Bendery:

UPDATE:
He’s not sitting with his own party.

 

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