Another Athlete Speaks Against Anti-Choice Super Bowl Ad

Meet my new boyfriend, Scott Fujita. This week, the New Orleans Saints linebacker was featured in the New York Times talking about why he’s pro-choice and pro-LGBT rights. This is not only regarding the anti-choice ad that’s scheduled to air during the Super Bowl on Sunday, but also the gay dating site ad that was submitted to CBS – and rejected.
As covered by Jos yesterday, Sean James and Al Joyner were featured in a new Planned Parenthood ad talking about the decisions they want the women in their lives to have. And Fujita is right behind them. He says:

“It’s just me standing up for equal rights. It’s not that courageous to have an opinion if you think it’s the right thing and you believe it wholeheartedly.”

On the anti-choice ad, he says he respects Tebow for standing up for what he believes in, but:

“The idea of focusing on the family — who wouldn’t agree with that? But the means of doing so, he and I might not see eye to eye all the way.”

Fujita himself was adopted, by a Japanese-American man who was born during WWII in an Arizona internment camp. (He often talks of drawing inspiration from his grandmothers strong will during the war.) While he says he’s grateful that his biological mother, a teenager at the time, had the support to carry out the pregnancy, he “wouldn’t expect that of anybody.”
As for the ManCrunch.com ad that was submitted and rejected by CBS, Fujita says that he understands people may have a hissy, but it still should have been aired: “Do they have the right? Absolutely. Is it going to offend some people? Absolutely.”
What I find great about James, Joyner and Fujita is not only their courage in speaking out on a very controversial issue, but also how their actions dispel stereotypes about professional athletes (especially football players) being simple brutes who have little interest in anything but the game. These three men may not be activists every day, but they were activists for at least one — and that certainly counts for something.
It looks like this ad is going to air regardless, but you can still make your outrage known. Here are ways to take action. Now, how can I get this guy’s number? (Jezebel has even more reasons to love him. Swoon!)