Church cancels LeRoy Butler appearance over support for gay athlete



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A Wisconsin church cancelled its plans to have Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer LeRoy Butler speak to its members. It's apparently over Butler's support of the NBA's Jason Collins for coming out as being gay.

Collins played with the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards this season. The coming out makes Collins the first active openly gay male athlete in the four major American pro team sports. Here is the lone tweet that he sent out then.



Take a look at the tweets Butler posted on Tuesday, April 30th in connection with the church incident.









Butler says the pastor of the church in question -- which Butler declines to identify -- offered to let Butler deliver the speech if he would ask for forgiveness and delete his tweet. Butler declined.

"He said, 'Listen, if you won't apologize, neither will we,' and he hung the phone up," said Butler during a sports radio talk show on Wednesday. "As a man, you gotta stand for something. You can't just let people just, just 'cause you don`t agree with their beliefs, just let 'em push you around."

Former Packers running back Gary Ellerson says the church, like Butler, has the right to hold its ground.

"They feel like their, LeRoy's values didn't fit with what they're trying to get accomplished. They have the right to do that," said Ellerson.

Butler declined FOX6's request for an interview.