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The Vikings Host The NFL’s First LGBTQ Summit

It was attended by 14 NFL teams.

 Tod Perry
06.25.18

A shift towards more inclusion in the NFL might finally be upon us.

On June 21, the Minnesota Vikings became the first NFL franchise to host an LGBTQ summit. The event was held at the TCO arena and moderated by local news anchor Jana Shortal.

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The event was attended by representatives from more than 60 organizations, including 14 NFL teams. The panel included former Vikings punter and LGBTQ rights activist, Chris Kluwe, Olympic diver Greg Louganis, former Vikings defensive end Esera Tualolo, and former wrestler Hudson Taylor.

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The summit focused primarily on how to promote an inclusive atmosphere for LGBTQ athletes and fans. There was also a discussion on LGBTQ participation in youth sports. An alarming statistic came out of the event: Only 24% of LGBTQ high school students participate in a sport, and 11% don’t feel safe in the locker room.

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On one of the panels, Kluwe discussed how straight athletes can mend the alienation LGBTQ athletes feel on all levels. He also emphasized the importance of eliminating homophobic slurs from the lexicon of sport.

“I was taught to use homophobic language to diminish my peers,” said Taylor. “I think that goes on in locker rooms around the country. … We all need to do a better job of saying what’s acceptable, what behaviors and language are acceptable.”

Although the summit was a great step in the right direction for the NFL, it stems from an ugly incident Kluwe faced as a member of the Vikings organization. Kluwe threatened to sue the team after special teams coordinator Mike Preifer made an anti-gay remark on the practice field. The summit was organized by the Vikings as part of a settlement it reached with the former punter.

“I wish it was all the teams [that were here] but I think it’s a good start,” Kluwe said. “Especially if even four or five of those teams go back and do something with it, that’s four or five more teams than we had in the entirety of the NFL. This is one of the things where I think once teams understand why this is an important issue and how it benefits them to deal with LGBTQ rights … I think we’ll see some serious change and adoption of policy happening.”

Sports

Youth activists gather to fight climate change at UN Summit: 'We need to transform anger into action'

Julian Meehan

Young leaders from around the world are gathering at the United Nations Headquarters in New York Saturday to address arguably the most urgent issue of our time. The Youth Climate Summit comes on the heels of an international strike spearheaded by Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, who arrived in New York via emissions-free sailboat earlier this month.

Translated from Swedish, "berg" means "mountain," so it may feel fated that a young woman with Viking blood in her veins and summit in her name would be at the helm. But let's go out on a limb and presume Thunberg, in keeping with most activists, would chafe at the notion of pre-ordained "destiny," and rightly so. Destiny is passive — it happens to you. It's also egomaniacal. Change, on the other hand, is active; you have to fight. And it is humble. "We need to get angry and understand what is at stake," Thunberg declared. "And then we need to transform that anger into action."

This new generation of activists' most pernicious enemy is denial. The people in charge — complacent politicians and corporation heads who grossly benefit from maintaining the status quo — are buffered from real-life consequences of climate change. But millions of people don't share that privilege. For them, climate change isn't an abstract concept, but a daily state of emergency, whether it comes in the form of "prolonged drought in sub-Saharan Africa…devastating tropical storms sweeping across Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific…[or] heatwaves and wildfires," as Amnesty International reportsare all too real problems people are facing on a regular basis.

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"We need to act right now to stop burning fossil fuels and ensure a rapid energy revolution with equity, reparations and climate justice at its heart," organizers say.

There's no doubt the visual images from the marches send a powerful message to those on the ground but especially those watching from around the world. GOOD's own Gabriel Reilich was on the scene for the largest of the Climate Strikes. Here are 18 of the best signs from the Climate Strike march in New York City.

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Major US phone carriers have yet to build out the infrastructure necessary to provide a consistent 5G experience, so Apple didn't feel it necessary to integrate the technology into its latest iPhone.

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People often dream about their significant others and studies show it actually affects how we behave towads them the next day.

"A lot of people don't pay attention to their dreams and are unaware of the impact they have on their state of mind," said Dylan Selterman, psychology lecturer at the University of Maryland, says according to The Huffington Post. "Now we have evidence that there is this association."

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