Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson apologizes for tweets
Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune By: Master Tesfatsion June 27, 2015 - 1:47 AM The Vikings cornerback expressed his disapproval of the same-sex marriage ruling in a series of tweets that have since been deleted.Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson issued an apology Friday night for his comments earlier in the day that were critical of the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage."I apologize for any offense my tweets may have caused," Robison wrote in a text message. "In an attempt to express my beliefs, I created some confusion with my choice of words, and for that I apologize. I do not equate the Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality with other social issues. There are obvious differences. However, I do believe that God’s laws will always supersede man’s laws. This belief is not from hate for anyone but from a love for my God and all those he created. Again, I’m sorry!"Robinson (@JROB_2one) expressed his disapproval of the ruling in a series of tweets that have since been deleted.Love is love? So what will we say when the 30yr old loves YOUR 10 year old. When the dad loves HIS 6 year old? It's different?? Yea okay!— Josh Robinson (@JROB_2one) June 26, 2015 Robinson made his Twitter account private Friday afternoon and posted a few more tweets on the matter afterwards.Vikings wide receiver Charles Johnson (MrInkredibleXII) also sent a tweet but with a difference stance than Robinson.“I can’t discriminate, when I’ve always been discriminated against“— Charles Johnson (@MrInkredibleXII) June 26, 2015”Ex-CB Fred Smoot: I played with 'several' gay players, 'everyone knew'By Jared Dubin CBS SportsJune 29, 2015 9:04 pm ET 
Fred Smoot answered some questions about gay NFL players. (Getty Images) Fred Smoot played in the NFL for nine seasons, spending four years with the Washington Redskins before heading to the Minnesota Vikings for two seasons, and then returning to Washington for the final three years of his career.In that time, Smoot said in a Reddit AMA, he played with "several" gay players. The full exchange is excerpted below. (Note: all three questions came from different Reddit users but were part of the same comment thread)Q: Did you encounter any gay players?A: yes. several.Q: At the professional level? Was it a don't ask don't tell kind of thing, or did everybody on the team generally know?A: everyone knewQ: We're they treated noticeably different? Or did nobody really care?A: no one caresThis, honestly, should not come as much of a surprise. At any given time, there are at least 1,696 players in the NFL (32 teams with 53 players each, and that doesn't even include injured players or those on the practice squad). According to a 2013 estimate from The New York Times, roughly five percent of the American male population is gay. Even if you stipulate that professional football players are less likely to be gay than the average American male (possibly, but not definitely true), it is still incredibly likely that there were and are at least a few gay players that the general public doesn't know about.For what it's worth, Michael Sam, the first active openly gay player in NFL history, said the same thing back in March. “I am not the only gay person in the NFL,” Sam said, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I'm just saying there is a lot of us. I respect the players that did reach out to me and had the courage to tell me that they were also gay, but they do not have the same courage as I do to come out before I even played a down in the NFL.”As far as the "no one cares" part of Smoot's response, that's consistent with the public statements of many NFL players who have addressed the topic of gay teammates in the past. In 2012, a dozen players told Outsports they would support a gay teammate, and a year later, the same site compiled the quotes of 62 players that had publicly supported the idea of a gay teammate.
