At the time, quite a few people asked me if I thought it was because of my recent activism for same-sex marriage rights, and I was very careful in how I answered the question. My answer, verbatim, was always, 'I honestly don't know, because I'm not in those meetings with the coaches and administrative people.'

This is a true answer. I honestly don't know if my activism was the reason I got fired.

However, I'm pretty confident it was.

Related: Chris Kluwe Thinks He Might Be Cut From The Vikings For LGBT Activism

In the writeup, Kluwe recounts abhorrently homophobic remarks from coaches, admonitions from the team's publicist to stop speaking out, and other indications his release wasn't simply based on his performance—which, for the record, was as strong as it had ever been in his NFL career.

My gross average in 2012 was almost exactly my career average, and I had a career-best net average. Statistically speaking, I am also the best punter in Vikings history, despite seven years of coaches asking me to deliberately sacrifice my own numbers to help the team, a request with which I always complied.

Throughout the months of September, October, and November [2012], Minnesota Vikings special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer would use homophobic language in my presence. He had not done so during minicamps or fall camp that year, nor had he done so during the 2011 season...  Priefer also said on multiple occasions that I would wind up burning in hell with the gays, and that the only truth was Jesus Christ and the Bible. He said all this in a semi-joking tone, and I responded in kind, as I felt a yelling match with my coach over human rights would greatly diminish my chances of remaining employed.

Preifer's  comments even stunned Kluwe's teammates.

As we sat down in our chairs, Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: "We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows." The room grew intensely quiet, and none of the players said a word for the rest of the meeting.

So why is Kluwe speaking out now, all these months later? Head Vikings coach Leslie Frazier was fired this week after a particularly lousy season, and Kluwe doesn't want to see Priefer get the top spot. "It's inexcusable that someone would use his status as a teacher and a role model to proselytize on behalf of his own doctrine of intolerance," he writes. "and I hope he never gets another opportunity to pass his example along to anyone else."

Related: NewNowNext interviews Chris Kluwe

Sadly, Kluwe believes his time as a professional football player is over: "It's clear to me that no matter how much I want to prove I can play, I will no longer punt in the NFL, especially now that I've written this account," he concludes. "Whether it's my age, my minimum veteran salary, my habit of speaking my mind, or (most likely) a combination of all three, my time as a football player is done."

This man is too principled and too well-spoken to simply sit on the sidelines. Here's hoping some smart LGBT group snaps him up as a chief speechwriter. Or, y'know, an underwear company looking for a new spokesmodel. (Hey, the guy's hot!)