After 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver generated a furor at the Super Bowl by saying that he wouldn’t accept a gay teammate, he apologized and said that he hoped to “learn and grow” from the experience.
Culliver took a step in that direction on Monday. He spent the day at the Los Angeles offices of the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis and suicide intervention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youths. Culliver also met with the organization’s executive director on Sunday and paid to have the Trevor Project’s national education trainer fly in from New York for Monday’s session.
Culliver says he wants to become a volunteer for the organization and a spokeswoman for the Trevor Project said that he could work on programs designed to assist young people. She also said that the organization didn’t think that Culliver was insincere about his motivations for reaching out to the organization only after he created the firestorm in New Orleans.
“Chris is a young guy himself,” spokeswoman Laura McGinnis said, via the Sacramento Bee. “He reached out to the Trevor Project. And that’s a good thing.”
While Culliver wouldn’t be doing this if not for his comments at Media Day, an outcome that helps make life easier for struggling youths is a positive one no matter the genesis. Hopefully that’s what’s at the end of the road for Culliver’s association with the Trevor Project.