Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker
Brendon Ayanbadejo on Tuesday announced a new push to win broader
rights for LGBT Floridians.
The 10-year NFL veteran became an
outspoken ally last year in the campaign to win gay marriage in
Maryland.
At a press conference organized by gay
rights advocate Equality Florida, Ayanbadejo, whose career started in
Florida where he now lives, explained to reporters why athlete allies
are critical to the movement.
“I think the star power, especially
athletes, allows us to hit a different demographic,” Ayanbadejo
said. “Whereas, you know, if you're from Hollywood it's kind of,
you know, a lot of people are already in line with marriage equality
in that arena. So people that are looking at sports and reading
articles and things like from the sports community are a little bit
behind. Not only are the athletes, but so is the sports community.
So, I think that allows us to have our voice just reach a little bit
deeper to people that normally wouldn't hear about such issues.”
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