Marriage Equality and the Baltimore Ravens

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-23 09:33:00 UTC
Topics:

Baltimore Ravens

As a Steelers fan it pains me to say this, but the Baltimore Ravens' stock just jumped up about 20 points in my book. Why? Because one of their pro-bowl players, Brendon Ayanbadejo, has become a forceful advocate for marriage equality.

Ayanbadejo attended an Equality Maryland event last week, and earlier this year penned a piece on HuffPost that took anti-LGBT folks to task for supporting bans on same-sex marriage. As Ayanbadejo wrote, "How could our society grant more rights to a heterosexual one night stand wedding in Vegas than a gay couple that has been together for 3, 5, 10 years of true love?"

Wow, score one for common sense points! David Toth from Equality Maryland told the Washington Blade that having a high profile athlete openly discuss marriage equality is a welcome sign.

"While not all of us are pro-footballers, one can never underestimate the power of just one voice to change hearts and minds," Toth said, "whether it’s your own family or millions of adoring fans."

Ah, the power of sports celebrity.

(Photo courtesy of Emmett Tullo 711's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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