page_title: Brendon Ayanbadejo
section_title: LGBT rights advocacy
hierarchical_section_title: Brendon Ayanbadejo / LGBT rights advocacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo with the Mayor of Baltimore. Congressman E. Cummings and De. C. Anderson on election day 2013 in Baltimore
context_page_description: Oladele Brendon Ayanbadejo is a former American football linebacker and special teamer who played in Canadian Football League and the National Football League for thirteen seasons. He played college football for the University of California, Los Angeles. He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 1999.
  Ayanbadejo has been selected to the Pro Bowl three times as a special teams player. He also was named to the All-Pro team two times as special teams player by Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers Association. He has also been a member of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins of the NFL, the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, and BC Lions of the CFL.
context_section_description: In 2009, Ayanbedejo began advocating for the legalization of same-sex marriage. His advocacy rather suddenly became a cause célèbre in September 2012, after Maryland State Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote an August 29, 2012, letter to Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, on official Maryland State letterhead, demanding that Bisciotti "take the necessary action ... to inhibit such expressions from your employee." Burns' letter went on to state that, "I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing." Burns' letter was widely criticized as an effort to infringe on Ayanbadejo's right to free speech. According to The Washington Post, the Ravens acknowledged receiving the letter but had no further comment.
  Shortly after the Burns letter was delivered, Ayanbedejo publicly announced that, as the son of interracial parents whose own marriage would have been illegal in 16 states prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Loving v. Virginia decision in 1967, he had no intention of remaining silent on an issue of conscience and public importance. Ayanbadejo has since said that he has received widespread support in the world of football.
  Among others, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe wrote a scathing response to Burns, while the Ravens also publicly sided with Ayanbadejo. In February 2013, Ayanbadejo and Kluwe filed a joint amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage, particularly in the case dealing with California Proposition 8.
caption: Ayanbadejo on election day 2012 at a polling place in Baltimore with (l-r) Delegate Curt Anderson, Congressman Elijah Cummings, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and businessman Curtis Anderson, campaigning for marriage equality
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