baltimore ravens linebacker & special teams ace brendon ayanbadejo has unconventional plans for the upcoming super bowl week. ayanbadejo intends to utilize the global media blitz as a unique opportunity to express his views on anti-bullying, gay rights & marriage equality.
ayanbadejo is bi-racial & grew up in a liberal environment where discrimination was frowned upon. his stepfather was a resident director for a lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender (lgbt) dorm at the university of california at santa cruz. ayanbadejo & his family lived in the dorm, which helped him cultivate passionate feelings for lgbt people & their rights.
earlier this season, ayanbadejo was at the center of a developing controversy: a maryland politician wrote a letter to the ravens demanding the organization silence him for speaking publicly about lgbt issues. surprisingly, minnesota vikings punter chris kluwe supported ayanbadejo & wrote a scathing letter to the politician - admonishing him for discouraging a citizen for sharing their views.
despite the political backlash, ayanbadejo remains steadfast. according to the new york times, he e-mailed two marriage equality advocates hours after returning home from the team's come-from-behind win against the new england patriots in the afc championship game last sunday. he also swapped e-mails with the founder & executive director of athlete ally, a group dedicated to eliminating homophobia in sports.
ayanbadejo began working on ways to get out his message as soon as the ravens clinched a berth in the game against the san francisco 49ers. in fact, he even has a dream scenario in mind: the ravens win the super bowl & he is invited to the ellen degeneres talk show as a guest, where the duo will discuss the importance of equality for all gays & lesbians. but before they get their talk on, he wants to get his dance on, with ellen.
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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