On Super Bowl eve, 49ers’ Culliver objects to gay players

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Players on the two teams heading into Sunday’s Super Bowl are known for their gay-friendly actions and overtures.

While the San Francisco 49ers became the first NFL team to shoot a video as part of the It Gets Better anti-bullying project, Baltimore Ravens’ linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo not only became a spokesperson on behalf of Marylanders for Marriage Equality, but offered to leverage the media glare on the Super Bowl to highlight gay rights.

But unlike his teammates — linebacker Ahmad Brooks and defensive tackles Ricky Jean-Francois and Isaac Sopoaga —
who were featured in the It Gets Better video, 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver is not thrilled about the idea of potentially sharing locker-room space with gay players.

Radio-show host Artie Lange aired a segment of an interview he did with Culliver, who reportedly said, “I don’t do the gay guys, man. I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team; they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah . . . can’t be . . . in the locker room, man. Nah.”

Culliver should be hearing from Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe any second now.

Landing image: ESPN.com

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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