5 Quotes From Brendon Ayanbadejo

Photo by Roger Erickson

Not only is sports star Brendon Ayanbadejo an outspoken advocate for gay rights, he's also a member of the Baltimore Mayor's Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission. Here we photographed him with his two French Bulldogs, Stella and Buster. In our story "Our Kind of Ally" (read the full story here), we sat Brendon down with Chris Kluwe and writer Amy K. Nelson for a surprising chat. Here's five juicy quotes that you don't want to miss:

• "I spent a little bit of time in an LGBT dorm when I was a young kid... it makes a big difference when you get to hang around with the LGBTQ community... It wasn't that big a deal to me, but people were amazed that back in the '90s I was living in that type of environment. That kind of developed who I was as a young person, and followed into my adulthood."
• "The coolest thing was [when] a gay couple was getting married in Tahiti and wanted to fly me out there to be at their wedding -- I thought that was awesome. I thought that was a good gesture. Every day on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook, guys ask me to marry them..."
• "I think, at the end of the day, the most special thing is when a mother or a gay person comes up to you and just thanks you and calls you a hero. They say I'm a hero, but I'm just a concerned citizen and I'm just doing the right thing."
• When Nelson asked, "Has another man ever asked you to blow him?" Brendon answered: "Let's put it this way: The straight women are more aggressive than the gay men. They say a lot more ridiculous things than a gay man would say on social media."
• "It's the exact same thing if you call someone a "faggot" or call somebody gay, if you call someone queer, sissy. It could be all that stuff... I'm taking those words out of my vocabulary, but I think I need to start saying them more for shock value. I'm going to start talking at high schools, and I'm trying to debate what would be better: to say those words so they hear them, or say "derogatory homophobic words?""

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