Thursday, February 7, 2013

Brendon Ayanbadejo calls for the end of Homophobia in Professional Sports


Brendon writes a great piece in USA Today, hoping for the sport community to stand up and stop being homophobic.

In his piece he says:
That's why I began advocating for marriage equality four years ago. As the child of a Nigerian dad and Irish-American mom, I was raised to believe that, in America, our differences don't matter and discrimination is wrong. During my career in the NFL, I've watched LGBT Americans struggle to make gains in legislatures, schools and boardrooms around the country. Since I first signed with the Falcons in 1999, Wall Street and corporate America have worked to create internal departments and networks focused on LGBT diversity and inclusion. The largest companies in the world have signed on to legal briefs in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples and CEOs have publicly spoken out for LGBT rights. What's even more inspiring is that, after decades of discrimination against gay and lesbian members of the United States military, President Obama ended "don't ask, don't tell." The president made history again in his inaugural address, when he called for equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans -- including the right to marry whomever they love.
Read the rest here

3 comments:

Bob said...

I'd like to see an end to homophobia everywhere, but in sports that's gonna be a tall order.

Roger Poladopoulos said...

He is indeed a hero in our time! :)

Kyle Leach said...

As Bob said it is a tall order to end homophobia in sports, but we have to start sometime. Every ally helps. It won't be easy for GLBTQ folk in sports for a long time, but I have to think that it helps every time someone speaks out for us who is already a well known sports figure.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.