49ers' Donte Whitner ready to accept gay teammate, disappointed in Chris Culliver

Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

NEW ORLEANS — San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner, who spoke out against bullying gay teens in a public service announcement last year, said Thursday it was "a little disappointing" when fellow Niners defensive back Chris Culliver spoke out against gay players in the NFL in a radio interview this week.

Whitner said comments such as the ones made by Culliver are the reason no active player has announced he's gay.

"It is common sense, first and foremost. But sometimes when you're not used to speaking for a long amount of time, you might get caught off guard, and I think it was a situation where he was caught off guard and answered a question incorrectly," Whitner said.

"Chris is a very young guy. It's his second year in the National football League. A lot of this stuff is new to him. He'll learn from this mistake and get better."

Whitner also distinguished his views from those Culliver put forth.

"I actually do feel differently from what Chris said," said Whitner. "We are NFL players, but we are humans also. Who knows? There could be somebody gay in our locker room right now that's scared to come out, which he has a right to be if he is scared to come out because of all of this and how other teammates might feel. But I feel like anybody can be who they want to be if they want to be that. As long as you don't disrespect other people and go about your own business in your way, I don't see what the problem is."

Whitner and three defensive teammates — Ahmad Brooks, Ricky Jean-Francois and Isaac Sopoaga — took part in that PSA about bullying, though Whitner was the only one who mentioned the "It Gets Better Project," an organization with a pledge that states, in part, "I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other bullied teens by letting them know that it gets better."

The anti-bullying message from Whitner was tailored to the gay and lesbian community of San Francisco. Whitner realizes the fact a 49ers player made the comments Culliver made contributed to the controversy and that there could be a backlash.

"Hopefully (there's not). But if I was a gambling man, I would probably think so," Whitner said. "That's why the comments he made were so big because the city we're actually in, there's a large population of people who are gay. ... There's probably a large amount of people who come to Candlestick Park who are gay. It's just a mistake by him and I know he wishes he could take it back."

Whitner said he has family members who are gay and "and if you can accept family members who are gay, you can accept anybody being gay."

Whitner said his mother and grandmother raised him to be tolerant of all types of people.

Obviously, there's a large portion of NFL players who aren't as tolerant as Whitner, and therefore it could be years before an active player comes out.

"I don't think that bridge has been built yet," Whitner said. "I think there's a lot of people that are afraid to come out because they're going to be scrutinized. People are going to look at them differently. They have friends who are straight, a lot of people don't want to be seen with people that are guy. And there are a lot of people who aren't comfortable being in the locker room naked and guys walking around with somebody that's gay. I think that's a reason why also."

Whitner said it's a "fact" there are current NFL players who are gay, though he said no player has told him he's gay. He believes that's due to the atmosphere in locker rooms.

"I don't know, it might be a macho type of thing," he said. "A lot of people are raised in a lot of different ways. You don't know how that person was raised. Whoever raised them could've been against it."

Whitner spoke while seated on a riser. In front of him was Culliver, seated at a table and swarmed by cameras, microphones and recorders.

Whitner is confident his young teammate has learned his lesson.

"I guarantee you he learned his lesson now. He's a young guy," Whitner said. "Everybody else in our secondary is a little older — six, seven years (in the league) and age of 27. Chris is (24) years old, so we're always trying to teach him lessons. He is sort of the young, flamboyant type of kid sometimes.

"Sometimes he does things that we don't know why he does them. It's hard to know why somebody who's (24) in the National Football League that does things sometimes. That's Chris. We'll all say bits and pieces to him. He'll get past it, and he won't make the same mistake again."

***

Follow Mike Garafolo on Twitter @mikegarafolo