Ayanbadejo, Washington Blade announce partnership

Brendon Ayanbadejo (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Washington Blade and Super Bowl champion and former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo today announce a special partnership to further the national dialogue on LGBT issues in professional sports.

Ayanbadejo will serve as guest editor of the Washington Blade’s Aug. 30 edition, which will be dedicated to sports issues.

The press and VIP event kicked off at 11 a.m. in the Woodward-Bernstein room at the Donovan House hotel in downtown Washington D.C.

A live stream of the event was broadcast, and the archived video will be available below.

live tweeting of the broadcast occurred at @washingtonblade.

Ayanbadejo has been a long-time, outspoken ally for LGBT equality and since 2009 has publicly advocated for marriage equality for same-sex couples.  In 2013, Ayanbadejo and his NFL colleague, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, filed a joint amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage in the California Prop 8 case currently in front of the court.

The Washington Blade was founded in 1969 as a black and white, one-sheet community newsletter distributed in D.C.-area bars. In October 2009, the Blade celebrated its 40th anniversary as an award-winning news source with a large following in print and online. Readers locally and around the world have come to rely on the Blade’s unmatched coverage of LGBT news, earning the paper the moniker “the newspaper of record for the LGBT community.

Return to the Washington Blade later in the day to learn more about this special project.

Watch the press conference here. You may have to skip ahead 22:00 to the beginning of remarks, as we compile an edited version.

The Washington Blade sports issue will come out on Aug. 30.