STARS ALIGN Super Bowl-bound Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo’s public support of gay marriage has garnered him famous allies in talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Brendon Ayanbadejo doesn’t know whether he ever will have this many people listening to him again, and he doesn’t plan on wasting his opportunity on the nation’s biggest stage at the Super Bowl.
The Ravens linebacker, who became one of the first current athletes to openly support gay marriage, writing in favor of it for the Huffington Post in 2009, said yesterday he plans to use every available microphone and camera as chances to share his beliefs with millions of people.
“Why not be the person to carry that message not only to the United States, but the rest of the world?” Ayanbadejo asked. “I have this huge platform, the whole world is watching. There’s still 47 states or so that don’t have it passed, and it needs to be passed federally.
“It’s a message of positivity, a message of equality. It’s a chance to get it out. It’s not going to affect the way I play football, but it’s going to affect a lot of people’s lives off the field.”
Ayanbadejo was in the spotlight over the summer when Maryland prepared to vote on gay marriage. State Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote a letter to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti asking him to prevent Ayanbadejo from speaking out, but no action was taken to silence him and the measure narrowly passed in November.
“Maryland did the right thing, even though equality shouldn’t be up to someone’s opinion or someone’s vote,” Ayanbadejo said.
Working in a climate with no active, openly gay athletes in the four major sports and in a locker room with several teammates who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds, the 36-year-old’s unusually passionate activism may be unpopular in football, but it has made him friends across the country.
Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has backed the linebacker’s views, and Ayanbadejo has become Twitter friends with Ellen DeGeneres. Ayanbadejo has an invitation to appear on “Ellen” after the Super Bowl, and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has reached out to him about starting a blog.
Ayanbadejo said he doesn’t have any specific plans to spread the word when he gets to New Orleans or when he’s bombarded on Media Day ahead of the Ravens’ showdown with the 49ers, but he plans on going to dinner with a few New Orleans lawmakers who got in touch with him after hearing his position.
“[Media members] are going to all come to me and I’m going to deliver a message of equality and love,” Ayanbadejo said. “I’m going to be there, you guys are going to be there, so we’ll talk about it.”
Wade Davis, who came out last year after playing in four preseasons with three NFL teams, said he wishes he had Ayanbadejo’s courage. Though Davis has no idea when an athlete may be able to come out during his career without fear of being shunned, the former cornerback thinks the path is being cleared by straight athlete advocates like Ayanbadejo.
“We need more straight allies like Brendon and Chris to become more vocal because it’s going to have to first be a coalition of straight athletes that come out saying they’re against homophobia and they’d be happy to have a gay teammate,” Davis said during a telephone interview.
“Your teammates are so important. If the entire Ravens’ team was behind Brendon and his message and other teams caught on to that, it would open the door so much quicker for a player to come out, but because you don’t have these big-name players like a Ray Lewis and Peyton Manning and Reggie Bush and all these guys speaking out for it, there’s a part of you that feels it’s not accepted.”