Former NFL player Wade Davis is
grateful for Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's gay
marriage support.
In October, Ayanbadejo became the first
professional athlete to endorse the Marylanders for Marriage Equality
campaign, which successfully lobbied for passage of a bill legalizing
gay nuptials in the state. Opponents of the law gathered sufficient
signatures to put the measure up to a popular vote in November.
Maryland Delegate Emmett Burns, also a
pastor and founder of the Rising Sun First Baptist Church, attempted
to muzzle Ayanbadejo by penning a letter to Ravens owner Steve
Bisciotti. Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe was among those who
came to Ayanbadejo's defense. On Sunday, Burns reversed course,
saying
the player has a right to speak his mind.
In an appearance on CNN, Davis, who
came out gay earlier this year, said he was grateful for Ayanbadejo's
support of marriage equality because the support of straight athletes
is more meaningful than that of gay ones.
“It's much bigger than anything a gay
athlete can do,” Davis said.
(Related: NFL
player Wade Davis comes out gay.)
Ayanbadejo said Burns' actions had
brought attention to the issue.
“He really just made it a national
issue. And now it's on the front pages of all the papers and all the
media. If he wouldn't have wrote his letter, I don't think we would
have received this type of attention,” he said. (The video is
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