Minnesota Vikings Punter Chris Kluwe
explained his support for gay marriage by saying he believes “people
are people and deserve to be treated the same as everyone else.”
During an appearance on cabler Comedy
Central's The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert asked Kluwe
why he came to the defense of Baltimore Raven's linebacker Brendon
Ayanbadejo when Maryland Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. asked Raven
officials to muzzle Ayanbadejo, a supporter of marriage equality.
“As an elected official Delegate
Burns does not has the right to stifle somebody else's free speech,”
Kluwe said. “That's the First Amendment. And so when he wrote
that letter saying 'stifle this man's free speech,' it really kind of
irked me as an American, because that's not what this country is
about.”
“And it segued quite nicely into the
same-sex marriage issue, because I firmly believe that people are
people and deserve to be treated the same as everyone else,” he
added to a loud round of applause from the audience.
(Watch
the entire segment on Comedy Central.)