Former North Dakota State College linebacker, Jamie Kuntz, was recently kicked off his team. The 18 year old believes that his dismissal was solely because he identifies as a homosexual and because he kissed his boyfriend at one of his team’s games. Read more below.
A North Dakota college football player claims that his coach kicked him off the team after he was seen kissing his boyfriend during a game.
According to LGBT activist Dan Savage, North Dakota State College of Science student Jamie Kuntz traveled with his team to a game against Snow College in Pueblo, Colo. over Labor Day Weekend. Though 18-year-old Kuntz was not scheduled to play the day due to a previous injury, he filmed the game from the press box while sitting with his boyfriend.
“We were getting destroyed,” Kuntz told Savage. “The game was a total blowout. And I guess I got bored and so I kissed my boyfriend and some of my teammates saw us.”
Still, a number of media outlets including Outsports are drawing attention to another point: Kuntz’s boyfriend happens to be 65 years old. Still, Kuntz told HuffPost Gay Voices in a telephone interview that he believes it was solely a matter of homophobia rather than ageism: “I don’t think it matters how old he is. If it would’ve been an older woman, I would’ve been congratulated for it.”
Outsports’ Jim Buzinski, who spoke with Kuntz last week, reports that Chuck Parsons, the head football coach at the North Dakota State College of Science, confronted about Kuntz about the kiss while returning to North Dakota on the bus. Kuntz reportedly lied at first, telling Parsons the man he was kissing was his grandfather. He later told his coach that he was gay in a text message, and apologized for lying.
“He said he didn’t care what people did in their personal lives, but it was a big mistake to do that on a football trip,” Kuntz recalled to Savage. After Kuntz says he apologized a second time, Parsons handed him a letter dismissing him from the team, calling the player’s actions “detrimental” and a “distraction.”
As Savage also reports, other members of Kuntz’s team have been caught drinking, while others have “criminal charges and convictions,” yet remain on the team. “I really didn’t even think anyone was looking in the press box, and I don’t even know why anyone would be looking in the press box while they were playing the game,” Kuntz told HuffPost Gay Voices.
