Hi all! I know I already posted today about Brendon Ayanbadejo, which was a bit of a read so thank you so much to all that read it! However, I stumbled upon a web article earlier and wanted to share it with you.
Last week, before the Super Bowl, San Fransisco 49ers' cornerback Chris Culliver made anti-gay comments when doing a podcast. When asked about gay players, Culliver responded with "I don't do the gay guys, man. I don't do that. No,
we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here
if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah … can't be … in the
locker room, man. Nah." He also said that players should wait 10 YEARS after retiring before coming out. He later apologized and recanted his comments, but, it's still a bit skeptical to many that it him being honest and not someone writing out his apology for him.
The article I found includes various statements from both the Baltimore Ravens and the San Fransisco
49ers in regards to the anti-gay comments made earlier this month by Culliver.
Here are a my favorite statements from the article.
"On this team, with so
many different personalities, we just accept people for who they are. We
really don't care too much about a person's sexuality. You know who
you are, that's who you are, and we accept you for it."
-- Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs
"I don't think we should
tear a man's head off or a woman's head off just because of their sexual
preference. I think we're all good people. I really believe we should
be able to look beyond that in this day and age. It's here in our world,
it's not like it just came yesterday. So for us to act like, oh my god,
this is like a bad disease that just hit our country, it's not."
-- 49ers receiver Randy Moss
"If people hear you say those
things, regardless of whether you mean them or not, they're going to
fry you for it if it's in a public arena, and your whole reputation is
going to be roasted for it. He apologized and hopefully he'll learn. I
think he's going to learn and he's going to grow from it and he's going
to be a better person for it.''
--Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayenbadejo
"Who knows, there could be someone who's gay in our locker room right
now that's scared to come out, which he has a right to be if he is
because of all of this and how other teammates might feel. I feel like
anybody can be who they want to be as long as you don't disrespect other
people and go about your business in your own way. "
-- 49ers safety Donte Whitner
If you have a moment, check out the whole article. The statements are pretty interesting. =)
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_22494882/
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Ally In The NFL
This last week in the world of LGBT News the name Brendon Ayanbadejo has been quite prominent. Now, if you are like me and not a fan of football, you haven't heard this name before and aren't familiar with this person. Brendon Ayanbadejo is a linebacker for, recent Super Bowl winners, the Baltimore Ravens. He is also a very big advocate for LGBT Rights and Marriage Equality.
Unfortunately, pro-athletes, in sports like football, in the past have been generalized as being against LGBT rights and gay players. However, thanks to players like Brendon Ayanbadejo that stereotype is starting to change for the better.
Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California (about 1 1/2 hours south of San Fransisco), Brendon has been an advocate for marriage equality since 2009. His support became more publicly known earlier this year when Maryland, the state he plays football for, put same-sex marriage on their voting ballot. He has also credited his marriage equality support as one of his biggest accomplishments. In the weeks preceding the Super Bowl, Brendon took part in a photo shoot for the NO-H8 Organization to show his support for the LGBT community.
Unfortunately, pro-athletes, in sports like football, in the past have been generalized as being against LGBT rights and gay players. However, thanks to players like Brendon Ayanbadejo that stereotype is starting to change for the better.
Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California (about 1 1/2 hours south of San Fransisco), Brendon has been an advocate for marriage equality since 2009. His support became more publicly known earlier this year when Maryland, the state he plays football for, put same-sex marriage on their voting ballot. He has also credited his marriage equality support as one of his biggest accomplishments. In the weeks preceding the Super Bowl, Brendon took part in a photo shoot for the NO-H8 Organization to show his support for the LGBT community.
However, thanks to his team's recent Super Bowl win, his platform has garnered more media attention then ever. On February 5, 2013, a video was uploaded onto CNN.com of an interview with Brendon Ayanbadejo on his support of the LGBT community and marriage equality. This video is only a little over 7 minutes, but it is one of the most powerful things I've seen in awhile.
The first thing he says is, “Well I don't really call it Gay
Rights, I just call it Rights. Everyone deserves to be treated
equally.” I love this quote because it is very true. It should just be rights as everyone is the same regardless of who they love or are as a person. That right there made me a Brendon Ayanbadejo fan immediately. He goes on to make a very good point.“Everyone's been talking to gay
people our entire lives, whether we know it or not.” This is something I don't think a lot of people realize or think about. You can't just look at a person and know that they are gay, straight, bi, etc. As Brendon also mentions, it shouldn't matter if a person wears clothing of another gender, or they feel inside they are one gender but physically another. People are just people.
When the Raven's Super Bowl win against the 49ers was mentioned, Ayanbadejo said something I found surprising and extremely refreshing. “And you ask why did the Ravens win
the Super Bowl this year? Because we loved each other more then the
49er's loved the man next to them. So I love the man next to me. My
teammates love me. The coaches loved us, and we won this football
game because of love. We didn't win because we are tougher or more
macho or anything like that. We won because we loved each other more, and
we're gonna do anything for the man next to us.” This is the first time I've ever heard of a team basing their win on the love between the team and not their physical strength or hard work.
Brendon Ayanbadejo was also asked about his opinion of the possibility of having gay players on the Ravens and other NFL teams as well as his reaction to the anti-gay comments made earlier this month by Chris Culliver (San Fransisco 49ers). He responded with, “Everybody's the same. We're all
equal. It doesn't matter. if you put your minds together, no
matter what that person's background is or their orientation is that
we can make change and do positive things.”
The last quote I wanted to share from this interview was something Brendon said near the end. He mentioned the US Constitution and how it ties in with LGBT Rights. “Someone's rights are not your
opinion. Someone's rights are granted through the constitution.” This is a lesson that needs to be shared and taught.
Other people he mentions that are also LGBT Allies in the NFL world include Chris Kluwe (Minnesota Vikings), Scott Fujita (Cleveland Browns), and Connor Barwin (Houston Texans). He also mentions a group called Athlete Ally, which is an organization dedicated to supporting athletes of all orientations.
If you can spare a few minutes out of your day, I strongly suggest clicking the link below and watching the whole interview. Brendon Ayanbadejo makes so many good, strong points that it's impossible to include them all in this post.
http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/02/05/exp-brendon-ayanbadejo-talks-nfl-gay-rights.cnn.html
http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/02/05/exp-brendon-ayanbadejo-talks-nfl-gay-rights.cnn.html
“People are born gay so why treat
them any differently? It's time we treat everybody fairly. And not
only are we trying to dictate who people should love, but dictate who
people should be. If a woman wants to wear man's clothes, if a man
wants to wear woman's clothes or if you feel like you are really a
woman on the inside and you're really a man, who cares? Let's just
treat everybody equally. Let's move on. Let's evolve as a culture, as
a people.”
- Brendon Ayabadejo
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Identifying As Asexual
So I've decided the time has come that I finally (wo)man-up and tell you all something that I haven't shared with really anyone yet. Not even my family. After spending about a year of researching and wondering, I finally admitted something to myself. I'm asexual.
To be put simply, being asexual means you don't experience sexual attraction. Unlike celibacy, it is not a choice; it's a type of sexual orientation, same as being bisexual or pansexual for example.There are many degrees of being asexual. Some, like me, have no desire in ANY intimacy. I enjoy people' s friendship and conversation, but I'd much rather share hugs and my sleeping space with my dog :) Then there are some that are just fine with holding hands, cuddling, hugging, kissing, or a variation, with another person except they have no desire in sex. There are also Asexuals that are more toward what is called the "gray scale". These people still identify as being an Ace (fun term for Asexuals :D) but they might not mind being fully intimate with another person if they have been with them for a certain length of time or with just a certain person.
So you see there is no one solid version of being an ace. Some are like me and at one end of the scale while others are at the opposite end of the asexual scale. I hope that makes sense... Contrary to some people's opinions Aces are very much capable with having relationships just like anyone else, with both other Aces and with sexuals. Being asexual in no way means you hate people that are sexuals.
Only in recent years has asexuality been accepted as a branch of the LGBT community. So if you haven't heard this term much or at all, don't feel bad. Only about 1% of the world's population is asexual.
If you would like to learn more, as I know some of this is confusing at first, there's a great online network to find answers to all your questions, doesn't matter if you think you are an Ace or not!
The Asexual Visibility Education Network, or AVEN, has really helped me with my questions and has helped me accept myself, as I hope all of you will.
xoxo <3
http://www.asexuality.org/home/
To be put simply, being asexual means you don't experience sexual attraction. Unlike celibacy, it is not a choice; it's a type of sexual orientation, same as being bisexual or pansexual for example.There are many degrees of being asexual. Some, like me, have no desire in ANY intimacy. I enjoy people' s friendship and conversation, but I'd much rather share hugs and my sleeping space with my dog :) Then there are some that are just fine with holding hands, cuddling, hugging, kissing, or a variation, with another person except they have no desire in sex. There are also Asexuals that are more toward what is called the "gray scale". These people still identify as being an Ace (fun term for Asexuals :D) but they might not mind being fully intimate with another person if they have been with them for a certain length of time or with just a certain person.
So you see there is no one solid version of being an ace. Some are like me and at one end of the scale while others are at the opposite end of the asexual scale. I hope that makes sense... Contrary to some people's opinions Aces are very much capable with having relationships just like anyone else, with both other Aces and with sexuals. Being asexual in no way means you hate people that are sexuals.
Only in recent years has asexuality been accepted as a branch of the LGBT community. So if you haven't heard this term much or at all, don't feel bad. Only about 1% of the world's population is asexual.
If you would like to learn more, as I know some of this is confusing at first, there's a great online network to find answers to all your questions, doesn't matter if you think you are an Ace or not!
The Asexual Visibility Education Network, or AVEN, has really helped me with my questions and has helped me accept myself, as I hope all of you will.
xoxo <3
http://www.asexuality.org/home/
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