Maryland politician Emmett C. Burns Jr. has taken a ton of criticism after he said the Baltimore Ravens should punish linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo for speaking out for same sex marriage. Burns, a Maryland House delegate opposed to a gay marriage bill awaiting voter OK this fall, has now changed his stance.“Upon reflection, he has his First Amendment rights,” Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, told the Baltimore Sun in a telephone interview. “And I have my First Amendment rights. … Each of us has the right to speak our opinions. The football player and I have a right to speak our minds.”Technically, Burns (and those who ripped the politician) are wrong when they say this is a First Amendment issue. That deals only with the government restricting speech. The Ravens, being a private business, could have theoretically punished Ayanbadejo for speaking out and it would not have violated his constitutional rights.~Ayanbadejo’s response to Burns has been low-key and the story did not get too much attention initially. Then, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe (himself a same-sex marriage supporter) wrote an obscenity-laced tirade against Burns on Friday that went viral, generating 1.6 million page views on Deadspin, being linked from dozens of sites and generating a bunch of related stories in the mainstream media, including a front page sports story in Sunday’s New York Times.
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