Chris Culliver, who vowed to learn more about the gay and lesbian community after his well-publicized comments about gays in the locker room at the Super Bowl, began making good on that promise Monday.
The 49ers cornerback spent the day at the Los Angeles office of the Trevor Project, which provides crisis and suicide intervention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youths.
Culliver's public relations representative, Theodore Pal-mer, said Culliver met Sunday with the group's executive director. He also paid to have the organization's national education trainer fly in from New York for Monday's session.
"He wants to use his profile as a professional athlete to help," Palmer said. "He wants to become a volunteer for the organization and become more active. He really learned a lot today."
Culliver was being interviewed by comedian Artie Lange five days before the Super Bowl when Lange asked him about gay players in the locker room.
"No, we don't got no gay people on the team; they got to get up out of here if they do," Culliver responded. "Can't be with that sweet stuff."
The comments were widely circulated and criticized, and Culliver apologized and promised to educate himself on the issues involving LGBTQ youth.
Others from the 49ers, including vice president of football affairs Keena Turner and public relations director Bob Lange, also met with representatives from the Trevor Project on Monday.
Trevor Project spokeswoman Laura McGinnis said Culliver could become a crisis intervention volunteer or work with programs directed at young people. McGinnis said there was no reason to suspect Culliver, 24, wasn't sincere in his desire to understand and help at-risk youth.
"Chris is a young guy himself," McGinnis said. "He reached out to the Trevor Project. And that's a good thing."
Read Matthew Barrows' blogs and archives at www.sacbee.com/sf49ers and listen for his reports Tuesdays on ESPN Radio 1320. Follow him on Twitter @mattbarrows.
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