Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has some choice words for an anti-marriage equality Maryland delegate: “I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won’t come into your house and steal your children. They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster.”
The conversation began when Brendon Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens spoke in favor of gay marriage being legalized in Maryland. In turn, Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti to urge him to “inhibit such expressions from your employee.”
â┚¬Å”As a Delegate to the Maryland General Assembly and a Baltimore Ravens Football fan, I find it inconceivable that one of your players would publicly endorse Same-Sex marriage, specifically, as a Raven Football player,â┚¬Â wrote Burns, a Democrat and a Baptist pastor. He proceeded to argue that it was not Ayanbadejo's place as a linebacker to step into a controversial political issue. Ayanbadejo has written opinion pieces and appeared in television ads supporting marriage equality in Maryland, where the measure is on the ballot this November.
He goes on to say he is unaware of any other NFL player to endorse marriage equality and directs the team to â┚¬Å”take the necessary action, as a National Football Franchise Owner, to inhibit such expressions from your employee and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions.”
Hundreds of miles away, in Minnesota, Kluwe wrote a letter of his own to Burns, admonishing him for his “vitriolic hatred and bigotry.”
“[I am] ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level,” he wrote, stating that Burns violated the First Amendment by admonishing the Ravens. “It baffles me that a man such as yourself, a man who relies on that same First Amendment to pursue your own religious studies without fear of persecution from the state, could somehow justify stifling another person’s right to speech. To call that hypocritical would be to do a disservice to the word. [Amazing] obscenely hypocritical starts to approach it a little bit.”
The brouhaha over Ayanbadejo has lit up the blogosphere while news organizations like the Associated Press have not yet touched the subject.
Ayanbadejo took to Twitter to defend himself. “Football is just my job it’s not who I am,” he tweeted. “And just like every American I have the right to speak!!!”
The Vikings’ Kluwe wasn’t so polite. In a long response, Kluwe said he was “disgusted” by the politician’s “vitrolic hatred and bigotry.”
“I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life,” writes Kluwe, adding that he wonders how Burns can be so “mind-bogglingly stupid.
“It baffles me that a man such as yourself, a man who relies on that same First Amendment to pursue your own religious studies without fear of persecution from the state, could somehow justify stifling another person’s right to speech,” Kluwe’s letter says. “To call that hypocritical would be to do a disservice to the word. Mindfucking obscenely hypocritical starts to approach it a little bit.”
Burns, who has received criticism from around the country, spoke to the Baltimore Sun on Sept. 9.
â┚¬Å”Upon reflection, he has his First Amendment rights,â┚¬Â Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., said in a telephone interview. â┚¬Å”And I have my First Amendment rights. â┚¬Â¦ Each of us has the right to speak our opinions. The football player and I have a right to speak our minds.â┚¬ÂÂ
