Church Cancels Leroy Butler Speech Because He Congratulated Jason Collins on Announcement

Former Green Bay Packers safety Leroy Butler was expected to speak at a church in Wisconsin this week, but his appearance was canceled because of a message he sent out on his Twitter account. The  tweet wasn’t anything derogatory or inappropriate, but the church didn’t like it.

Butler tweeted his congratulations to NBA player Jason Collins who made a groundbreaking announcement when he became the first player in major sports to come out as a gay athlete. It was a sign of respect from Butler, however, it went against the beliefs of those who he was set to speak for.

Butler shared the story on his official Twitter account.

“Wow, I was scheduled to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event,” Butler wrote. “I said ok why? Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on Twitter. I said really? we have a contract, he said check the moral cause, FYI the fee was $8,500, then I was told if I removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event. I said no, only god can judge.”

If that is the true story, it is a shame. Then again, it shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, it was ESPN’s Chris Broussard who said Collins couldn’t be a Christian while living a homosexual lifestyle and this church obviously feels the same way.

While Collins coming out was a major step forward towards changing the culture of professional sports locker rooms, we all still have a good ways to go before the entire nation becomes more open minded and accepting of others.