NFL’s Scott Fujita Video for Marriage Equality

http://www.dallasvoice.com

There was a time when professional sports, at least male professional sports, were considered a bastion of homophobia and narrow-mindedness. But that reputation is slowly being chipped away at. The National Football Leagueand Major League Baseball passed policies prohibiting anti-gay discrimination just this year while Major League Soccer led the way by adopting such policies in 2004, and the National Hockey League followed suit in 2005.

Scott Fujita when he played for New Orleans

But those are “organizations” — big businesses, in fact, that are just following the lead of other big businesses which have known for years that such policies help you attract the best and the brightest employees. What about the individuals within pro sports? How do they feel?

Well, obviously, attitudes are changing at that level, too.

Today, the Human Rights Campaign released a new web ad promoting marriage equality that features NFL linebacker Scott Fujita, a straight man married for 12 years and a father of two. Fujita plays now for theCleveland Browns. He was on the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints in 2010, and in 2005 played for the Dallas Cowboys.

“I’ve been married for 12 years and I know that it is unfair to keep other loving and committed couples from getting married and protecting their families,” Fujita says in the ad, which you can watch below.

This isn’t the first time that Fujita has publicly supported LGBT rights. But it’s nice to know that he continues to be visible and vocal about his support. The fact is that hundreds of thousands — millions, even — of ordinary Americans — the exact people we need to reach with our message of equality — look up to pro athletes like Scott Fujita.  And when those athletes come up with a positive, affirming message about equality for everyone, at least some of those ordinary Americans are going to listen.

Now if we can just get a NASCAR driver to speak up for equality ……

—  Tammye Nash