Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon
Ayanbadejo has signaled that he's prepared to back a transgender
protections bill in Maryland.
The 36-year-old Ayanbadejo vocally
supported passage of a gay marriage law last year. A measure which
would expand critical workplace protections based on gender identity
is currently before the Maryland General Assembly.
Ayanbadejo, fresh off the Ravens' Super
Bowl XLVII victory, appeared on CNN to discuss his gay rights
advocacy.
When asked his thoughts on comparing
marriage equality to the civil rights movement, Ayanbadejo said
people are born gay, and went on to suggest support for the proposed
law.
“If you're educated on the issue and
you sit down and you talk to a gay person, and I've been talking to
gay people – everyone's been talking to gay people our entire
lives, whether we know it or not – but we really believe that
you're born gay.”
“I've had plenty of conversations
with people that are gay and they say they are born gay, no different
than me being born this beautiful almond coconut color that I am.
People are born gay. So why treat them any differently? It's time
that we treat everybody fairly. And not only are we trying to
dictate who people should love, we're also trying to dictate who
people should be.”
“If a woman wants to wear a man's
clothes or if a man wants to wear a woman's clothes or you feel like
you're a woman on the inside and you're really a man. Who cares?
Let's just treat everyone equally. Let's move on. Let's evolve as a
culture, as a people.”
(Watch
the entire segment at CNN.)