Sport

Brendon Ayanbadejo: 70 percent of NFL players support equal marriage

Sep 13 2012
Written by Joseph McCormick

Football player, Brendon Ayanbadejo, was the focus of a recent controversy, when his club was asked to silence his advocacy of equal marriage rights, and he has now spoken out again saying that a large percentage of NFL players feel the same as he does.

Mr Ayanbadejo, of the Baltimore Ravens, appeared on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, where he estimated that 70% of NFL players support equal marriage.

He said the players who don’t, usually don’t because of religious beliefs, NBC Sports reported. He did admit the percentage was a guess, but added:

“Even the players who are very religious, some of them understand that it’s a matter of equality and love, and they’re not going to let religion dictate government.”

The Baltimore Ravens rejected a call last week from Delegate Emmett C Burns Jr, to reprimand Mr Ayanbadejo, who recorded a video for a gay rights advocacy group last October.

Delegate Burns wrote to club owner, Steve Disciotti: “I am requesting that you take the necessary action, as a National Football League Owner, to inhibit such expressions from your employees and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions.”

Chris Kluwe, a player for the Minnesota Vikings, also penned a passionate letter to Delegate Burns, defending the constitutional rights of professional sports players to speak out in support of causes such as LGBT rights, or equal marriage.

The letter read: “Why do you hate the fact that other people want a chance to live their lives and be happy, even though they may believe in something different than you, or act different than you? How does gay marriage, in any way shape or form, affect your life?”

Delegate Burns also claimed to know of no other NFL players who supported equal marriage rights for gay people, but in a recent article, Jim Buzinski, of OutSports.com actually named 28 players who all support the LGBT community in some way.