Browns linebacker Scott Fujita makes pro-marriage video

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland--A familiar face to Browns fans has added his voice to the campaign for marriage equality.

Super Bowl champion Scott Fujita, a Browns linebacker, recorded a video for the Human Rights Campaign?s ?Americans for Marriage Equality? campaign, released on December 7.

He joins basketball player Steve Nash, hockey player Sean Avery and football players Michael Strahan and Brendan Ayanbadejo.

?I?m Scott Fujita and I support marriage equality. As an NFL linebacker, I play the game tough but fair. I?ve been married for 12 years, and I know that it is unfair to keep other loving, committed couples from getting married and protecting their families,? he says in the video. ?Please join me and a majority of Americans and support marriage equality.?

In addition to sports stars, others who have added their weight to the campaign range from Newark Mayor Cory Booker and NAACP chairman Julian Bond to actor-comedian John Leguizamo and Mo?Nique.

The campaign dovetailed from HRC?s work in helping get the New York state marriage law passed and their ?New Yorkers for Marriage Equality? ad blitz.

Fujita?s sentiments on equality may have been influenced by his father, who is Japanese-American and was interned in a relocation camp during World War II.

The day after his video was released on HRC?s website, the organization also commended the National Basketball Association, which is now the third major sports league in the country to institute sexual orientation nondiscrimination protections in their latest contract. A similar policy is now in place for the National Football League and Major League Baseball, both of which added the protections this year.

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