Worth a read: Vikings punter Chris Kluwe Q&A about same-sex marriage, gay athletes

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has never been afraid to speak his mind. Anyone who follows him on Twitter will figure that out quickly. As such, it's no surprise to see him give frank answers in an interview with Outsports.com regarding same-sex marriage and gay athletes (Kluwe is against the marriage amendment, as he states in the interview). Regardless of your stance on the issue, though, it is still interesting to read Kluwe's thoughts. Here is an excerpt (full Q&A is here) of the part where Kluwe talks about gay athletes and the locker room culture: Outsports: Switching to football, have you ever played with a teammate in high school, college (UCLA) or the pros (Minnesota Vikings) who you knew was gay?

Kluwe: No one I knew for a fact was gay, mainly because the locker room culture is the locker room culture. It's a very tough environment for someone who's gay to come out in.

I think people are growing more tolerant, as the younger generation has been raised to believe that being gay isn't a bad thing. As more and more of those guys are getting into the locker room, I think it's definitely becoming more tolerant.

It's going to be really hard for someone to come out until someone does it at the professional level, because that will give that Jackie Robinson-type example that hey, it's OK to do that. I would be completely supportive of a teammate who did that because when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter your sexual orientation, it matters can you help us win on Sunday. That's the only thing that matters in the locker room.

Outsports: Do you think it would be possible on the Vikings for someone under the right circumstances to come out publicly?

Kluwe: Yeah, I think it would. It would have to be someone who's courageous and strong enough to withstand the inevitable abuse and insults that will come their way. It's not going to be easy. But inside the locker room, I would do my part to make it as welcoming an environment as I could and I would definitely speak up if anyone tried to do anything negative there.

Outsports: What is it about the culture of the locker room that makes it not conducive to someone being open about their sexual orientation?

Kluwe: It's a very machismo-type football culture. The past 100 years of football have been about it being a guys-guy sport and you have to shrug everything off and you could never show weakness. For a lot of people, they were raised that being gay is either a weakness or a sin, so it's tough for a lot of guys to get past that kind of cultural conditioning.

But I think views are changing and I think they've changed enough to where I think that while it would be tough to come out, there would be support there.