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Sean Avery has been a very controversial player in his NHL career. He's said some stupid things and played over the line at times, but on this issue he's right on the money.
Avery got together with Human Rights Campaign and made this video in support of same-sex marriage. Sean joins New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and actors Julianne Moore and Sam Waterston, in supporting marriage equality.
However, a sports agent came out and criticized Avery for his support of the gay community:
Avery's video in support of gay marriage for the Human Rights Campaign's New Yorkers for Marriage Equality drive spurred hockey agent Todd Reynolds of Uptown Sports Management to write Monday night on the @uptownhockey Twitter account, "Very sad to read Sean Avery's misguided support of same-gender 'marriage'. Legal or not, it will always be wrong."
The agent also tweeted: "To clarify. This is not hatred or bigotry towards gays. It is not intolerance in any way shape or form. I believe we are all equal ... But I believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. This is my personal viewpoint. I Do not hate anyone."
Uptown Sports represents a handful of NHL players, including Nashville Predators winger Mike Fisher, the husband of country singer Carrie Underwood.
Response against Reynolds' tweet was sharp, including from fellow agents. Scott Norton of Chicago-based Norton Sports tweeted, "Not to promote violence, but @NortonSports Jr has something in mind for #UptownSports!" with a link to a video of his son doing karate practice.
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The Human Rights Campaign's video series also has included messages from Mayor Bloomberg, his predecessors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, and both of New York's senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
A typical excuse by right wingers is that they don't hate gays, they just think they shouldn't have equality.
It's nice to see a sports figure stand with the gay community because so much of the sports world is dominated by homophobic right-wing types. And make no mistake, sports in America does have an influence on America and politics. As we've seen, sports talk radio has already played a hand in electing Scott Brown in MA., when all the local radio jocks attacked his opponent, Martha Coakley, over her misstatements about Curt Schilling.
I wrote about this earlier; Margery Eagan: The media is afraid to talk about how Right Wing Talk and Sports Radio 'Demonized' Martha Coakley
EAGAN: Well, she got very good press from "The Boston Globe," not from my paper, "The Boston Herald." But you know something? People don't like -- TV journalists and newspaper journalists do not like to talk about the influence of talk radio. Let me tell you something. There was a nonstop hammering of Martha Coakley on the AM stations here, on the huge sports stations here. She was the evil incarnate and Scott Brown was the next coming. And, you know, the New England Patriots in the playoffs lost early on. It was as if there was this transference from Tom "Terrific" Brady, the quarterback of the Patriots, to Scott "Terrific" Brown. You look at the rallies for Scott Brown, they were very white, they were very suburban, they were Gillette Stadium fans, and there was almost this...
