More than a week ago Brendon Ayanbadejo, of the Baltimore Ravens football team made a public pronouncement in favor of marriage equality. This was in support of the November ballot initiative to permit gay marriage. Emmett Burns of the Maryland House of Delegates didn't like that and asked Ravens owner to tell Ayanbadejo to shut up.
Chris Kluwe, of the Minnesota Vikings (where a marriage protection amendment is on the ballot) jumped into the fray with a strong (if somewhat purple) defense. Yo, Mr. Burns, there is such a thing as the First Amendment. Burns apologized.
Both men were on NPR's All Things Considered to talk about the experience. Though the NFL doesn't have any current openly gay players (yet) both men have had significant support from fellow players, their management, fans, and people in general. In particular their management said keep it up. This is not a distraction from the game. It is an integral part of the diversity the teams stand for.
Even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell agrees with his players. This link has links to Burns' letter and Kluwe's blistering response.
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