Seattle Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemons got into a Twitter conversation earlier this week about an NFL player coming out of the closet. In the midst of the conversation, he shot off this message:

He then tweeted this message:

He deleted the second message at some point, probably hoping to avoid a controversy. It didn't work.

Clemons does not understand what gay people go through. Living life with a secret about the core of your humanity is not easy. And in fact, it can undermine the on-field performance of athletes.

He says that athletes should come out in high school or college and not wait until they're in the pros to come out. People aren't always aware when they're 15, or even 20, of their sexual orientation. And even if they are, they may not be ready to come out. They're afraid of what they hear from other athletes — guys like Clemons.

I haven't seen any apology or walk-back by Clemons. So I guess he meant what he said. It demonstrates the need for continued education on the issue. NFL — calling the NFL….