Here we go again.

Jamie Kuntz, the 18-year-old linebacker for the North Dakota State College of Science, made headlines because he was kicked off the football team this month for “conduct deemed detrimental to the team,” according to the dismissal letter.

Kuntz says the real reason is because he’s gay.

Hogwash.

This is just another case of “it’s cause I’m (insert marginality).”

The controversy started when Kuntz suffered a concussion prior to the team’s first game in Colorado. Head coach Chuck Parsons gave Kuntz the task of filming the game from the press box.

Sometime during the game, however, Kuntz let his 65-year-old boyfriend join him in the room, where a makeout session ensued.

That’s when a teammate spotted the two from the field and told the coaches what he saw – this is no Tiger Stadium, I guess.

Parsons asked Kuntz about the incident. He lied saying he had kissed his grandfather, but would later confess.

The day after his confession, he was expelled from the team.

Not because Parsons is a homophobe, but because Kuntz’s actions displayed what little concern he had for his teammates and for his commitment to the team.

However, like all controversies, there remains a gray area of subjectivity on such a sensitive topic.

Let’s all be honest this one time and admit it exists.

Yet this doesn’t make Parsons wrong and Kuntz right.

Kuntz has his opinion, as does Parsons. The difference is Kuntz broke a standard set by the school’s athletic board.

A major argument against Parsons is that if Kuntz had brought a female in to the press box, he would not have been kicked off the team.

One can play the “what if” game forever, but it’s pointless and counterproductive.

Saying there would have been a different outcome had he been with a female is the same as me saying the reason I didn’t get an A in biology is because my teacher is gay, and I’m straight.

I could go on about how Kuntz and his significant elder met more than a year ago, which would make him 17 – a minor – and after the whole Sandusky dilemma, no football coach would risk his career with any remotely similar situation.

I could go on in that fashion, but that isn’t the real issue, is it?

The real issue here is Kuntz using his sexuality as a red herring.

The only reason this story surfaced is because Kuntz is gay. Once people heard a gay football player was kicked off the team, they assumed it must be his sexuality.

No one stopped to think he could have actually done something wrong.

I support equal rights, but the punishment Kuntz received is not an example of inequality. Equality is giving each person the same privileges. But that also means each person is to receive the same punishment.

Just because Kuntz is gay does not mean he deserves special treatment or exemption from the rules.

Les Miles kicked Tyrann Mathieu off LSU’s team because the rules our football program established determined that his actions were detrimental to the team.

Even though Mathieu was an exceptional player, nothing could exempt him from the rules.

Everyone is entitled to equal treatment, not special treatment.

There’s a big difference.