WATCH: Former NFL Star Tell Anderson Why He Defended Jason Collins

LeRoy Butler was axed from a church speaking engagement because he supported Jason Collins's coming out.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

May 06 2013 7:02 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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After tweeting a message of support for Jason Collins, a professional basketball player who came out last week, former NFL player LeRoy Butler was canned from a speaking engagement. But the former Green Bay Packer told CNN's Anderson Cooper he regrets nothing.

Butler, who played 12 years for the Packers, said the unnamed church demanded he apologize, ask God for forgiveness, and delete his tweet of support for Collins. Butler refused to do so, saying he worried what a suicidal gay teen would gleam from that message.

"This is when I got angry," Butler said, "Some 16-year-old kid is somewhere in a closet with his father's gun that he found and he's thinking about putting it to his head because he's been tormented in school every single day because they may have found out he was gay or they suspected he was gay. He doesn't have a voice now."

Watch the video below and read more here.