Yesterday I posted a letter from Maryland House of Delegates member Emmett C Burns jr. to Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti asking Bisciotti to curb linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo from speaking out in support of LGBT rights and marriage equality.
Said Burns in the letter: "I am requesting that you take the necessary action, as a National Football League Owner, to inhibit such expressions from your employees and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions. I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing."
Now, Ayanbadejo says he'd "have to thank him more than anything for bringing national attention to the issue," USA Today reports.
Ayanbadejo expressed surprise that Burns was trying to remove someone's free speech rights: "For somebody to try to take that away from me I was pretty surprised, from a politician especially. People get fired for saying the things that the delegate said. People lose their jobs for discrimination…I think that whoever voted for him has their right to vote for who they believe represents their values. And if he represents their values, he's the best person for the job. If Obama represents the best values for the country, he deserves the job."
Added Ayanbadejo: "Its an equality issue. I see the big picture."
