Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker
Brendon Ayanbadejo discussed NBA free agent Jason Collins' coming out
during a Meet The Press segment.
The 36-year-old Ayanbadejo, who is
currently a free agent, called Collins' coming out “a big deal,
because America's calling for it.”
“People have to realize that, even
though it's your right to have religion and to … really, you can't
use that right of religion to take other people's rights away,”
Ayanbadejo said. “Equality trumps all of them.”
“People think gayness has something
to do with femininity, when, really we just need to erase that
stereotype from our minds. LGBT people come in all different types
and shapes and forms. So I think that's really what we're fighting.”
“But the beautiful thing about what
Brittney Griner did is that it barely made a splash,” he
said of the WNBA star's recent coming out.
(Related: WNBA's
Brittney Griner comes out gay.)
“That's what we're trying to do in
men's sports when people announce they're gay. We don't want it to
change the climate in sports. We want everybody to be accepted and
people can go out there and love who they want to love and be who
they are so they cannot only be better people but they can also be
better athletes.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
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