Brendon Ayanbadejo: I want to use Super Bowl media for equal marriage awareness

Jan 25 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

NFL player, and equal marriage advocate, Brendon Ayanbadejo, has said that he wants to use the massive exposure which the Super Bowl brings to speak out about marriage equality.

The Baltimore Ravens linebacker returned home late after a game on Monday, and sent emails to equal marriage advocates asking how he could help use the Super Bowl media to raise awareness of equal marriage, reports Yahoo.

In an email sent at 4am after an AFC Championship match, he asked two leading gay rights activists: “Is there anything I can do for marriage equality or anti-bullying over the next couple of weeks to harness this Super Bowl media?”

“It’s one of those times when you’re really passionate and in your zone,” Ayanbadejo told Frank Bruni of The New York Times. “And I got to thinking about all kinds of things, and I thought: How can we get our message out there?”

Critics have questioned why he is taking his mind of football, and some have said that he should be focussing all of his energy on the sport. Others have commended him for his creative use of the platform, which could mean potentially massive exposure for gay rights.

Brendon Ayanbadejo was previously involved in a controversy because he was criticised by a state delegate for speaking in favour of equal marriage.

In November, upon waking to find that Maryland voters had chosen to legalise equal marriage in the state, Ayanbadejo said it was “like Christmas”.

Fellow NFL player, Chris Kluwe previously responded to Matt Birk, a fellow NFL player who recorded a video opposing the amendment for equal marriage. In his response, Mr Kluwe said: “If you want us to understand why same-sex marriage is bad for kids, you need to provide some sort of substantial evidence”.

Kluwe, later quit his blog at an online daily newspaper, due to an editorial published by the site’s editors which, he said, expressed an anti-equal marriage stance going against the political neutrality the site claimed to have.

Actor, Neil Patrick Harris, recently faced accusations of “mocking Christianity” and pushing a “gay agenda” for his appearance in an advert for the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl will take place in the US on 3 February 2013.