Is America Ready for the First Active, Gay NFL Player?

With Super Bowl 2013 this weekend, we see two teams that have had their say on gay athletes.

The Baltimore Ravens' Brendon Ayanbadejo has been a stand out ally for the gay community, advocating for same-sex marriage in home state of Maryland—which was legalized this past November. Ayanbadejo is currently using his media time from the Super Bowl to continue to talk about the issues. "Equality is a relevant issue. Whether you decide to speak out about it or not, it's going to affect everybody one way or another. Hopefully I'll be able to win a Super Bowl and do the entire media circuit so I can talk about these things."

In other recent news, the Ravens's opposing team, San Francisco 49ers's Chris Culliver has made headlines for anti-gay remarks where he says an openly gay player is not welcomed. He has since issued a quick apology and said he "pledges to learn from this experience," but who knows if that will be true.

Minnesota Vikings' Chris Kluwe criticized Culliver for sending the wrong message to millions of young fans and aspiring athletes. “While he’s certainly entitled to speak his mind, Culliver is a role model whether he likes it or not,“ said Kluwe in a press release from the Family Equality Council, who is honoring Kluwe for his vocal advocacy on behalf of LGBT people. “There are kids all over the United States who aspire to be right where he is and he has an obligation to consider the effect of his words. Kids are listening."

http://www.out.com/entertainment/popnography/2013/01/31/america-ready-first-active-gay-nfl-player