Superbowl champ Brendon Ayanbadejo is making the most of the national spotlight this week: not only has he released a new video about the freedom to marry, but he’s also just authored a USA Today opinion piece about homophobia in sports. An excerpt:

The NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA should and can be leaders against discrimination. Whether you’re a commissioner, an athlete, a coach or a fan, your voice will let every kid out there know that there is a place for him or her in sports. We all can be ourselves and still compete with dignity and at the highest level.

Brendon’s an ambassador for Athlete Ally, a nonprofit committed to ending anti-LGBT prejudice in sports. And his values echo those of us working for marriage equality: letting every kid out there know that there’s a place for them, whether it’s on a sports team or with the person they love.

“I was raised to believe that, in America, our differences don’t matter and discrimination is wrong,” Brendon writes.

As with discrimination in sports, we know that discrimination in marriage cannot last. Whether striving for a more open NFL, or taking AFER’s case to the highest court in the land, we’re dismantling old outdated prejudices piece by piece.

As AFER’s legal team led by distinguished lead co-counsel Ted Olson and David Boies proved conclusively in federal court – with expert testimony from Dr. Gregory Herek and the personal experiences of Ryan Kendell – so-called “therapies” that purport to turn gay people straight cause irreparable harm including increased risk of depression, social withdrawal, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide.

This led the court to conclude, as one of its 80 detailed findings of fact:

46. Individuals do not generally choose their sexual orientation. No credible evidence supports a finding that an individual may, through conscious decision, therapeutic intervention or any other method, change his or her sexual orientation.

California has shown incredible leadership on this issue, and this legislation will serve as a template for other states to protect their LGBT youth.

We talk often about how marriage is a civil right, affirmed by 14 Supreme Court cases dating back to 1888. But what about the importance of marriage throughout history?

As Harvard University History Professor Nancy Cott testified during the Prop. 8 trial:

“Marriage—the ability to marry, to say ’I do’—is a basic civil right.”

“[T]he fact that the state is involved in granting these kinds of benefits and legitimacy to the marital family tends to lend a prestige, a status to that institution that no informal marriage has ever approximated.”

Dr. Cott, who has written four books and a slew of peer-reviewed articles, is an expert  on the history of family, marriage and citizenship, and one of the nine expert witnesses Ted Olson and David Boies called to testify about the cultural, historical, economic, psychological and sociological importance of marriage equality.

The words Prof. Cott said under oath were performed in the Broadway and Los Angeles premieres of “8” by Yeardley Smith, an actress known as the voice of Lisa Simpson,  a shoe designer, and AFER donor.

By Adam Umhoefer, American Foundation for Equal Rights

Two years is too long to wait for something that is so obvious and inevitable.

Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of the District Court decision that ruled Prop. 8 unconstitutional. It’s easy to forget how historic the ruling is—after all, gay and lesbian Californians still can’t get married and have lived in the shadow of a law that was said to be unconstitutional 731 days ago. But, the decision is a major milestone in our quest for marriage equality.

The historic 136-page decision included 80 findings of fact that speak to the importance of marriage in our society and the irreparable harm caused by discriminating against a group of people. The landmark decision was affirmed earlier this year by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Nearing the Finish Line

While the road to the end-goal of full federal marriage equality has been too long, we can finally say Prop. 8 is breathing its last breath.The Prop. 8 Proponents have just asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take our case.  The Court will either take our case, issuing a final decision by June 2013, or marriage equality will be restored in California as early as October.

Either way, we know that soon gay and couples will finally have the respect and equal dignity the constitution says they should have. For loving couples like AFER’s plaintiffs, Kris & Sandy and Jeff & Paul, and for everyone who believes every American should have the freedom to marry the person they love, that day cannot come soon enough.

During the 2010 trial of Prop. 8, famed conservative attorney Ted Olson wrote a cover story for Newsweek.

Americans who believe in the words of the Declaration of Independence, in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, in the 14th Amendment, and in the Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and equal dignity before the law cannot sit by while this wrong continues. This is not a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American one, and it is time that we, as Americans, embraced it.

Read the full article >

During the U.S. District Court trial of Prop. 8, the first time a federal court heard testimony about marriage equality, Dr. Ilan H. Meyer, Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University, testified to the word marriage holds a special significance in our society:

It is, I think, quite clear that the young children do not aspire to be domestic partners. But, certainly, the word “marriage” is something that many people aspire to. Doesn’t mean that everybody achieves that, but at least I would say it’s a very common, social, socially-approved goal for people as they think — for children as they think about their future and for people as they develop relationships. For young people, and certainly for people later on, this is a desirable and respected type of goal that if you attain it, it’s something that gives you pride and respect.

The word “marriage” has meaning. Separate institutions, like civil unions and domestic partnerships, are inherently unequal.