Former SMU and New England Patriots running back Craig James is upset that sports teams, including the Patriots, have signed on to a brief urging the Supreme Court to make gay marriage legal in the country. He called it the work of Satan.
Speaking on the "Washington Watch" radio program, hosted by Tony Perkins of the anti-gay Family Research Council, James was asked his opinion of the Patriots and other sports franchises joining 379 companies signing the brief. Right Wing Watch has the audio:
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James: A locker room is a cohesive deal. A locker room is a place where everybody has different belief systems but you just get along. In my opinion, I look forward to seeing now, if management tells you and the coaching staff tells you that you better not say anything about the other side, you talk about implosion in the locker room. I know the believers I was with, my teammates — and there were a lot of believers in that locker room — we wouldn’t have been quiet for a moment, we would have spoken up.
Perkins: Do you think there are going to be more players that say, “Hey wait a minute, that’s fine if they want to do that and live that lifestyle, but for me, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I have an obligation to speak out, in a loving way, but to speak the truth nonetheless?”
James: I have to say that … the thought of me filing something in the Supreme Court on behalf of players, I had pause. I’ll run through a wall with you guys [but] … if I were a current player in that locker room and my livelihood depended on me being quiet or losing it because of my belief system, I worry, I wonder. So, that’s Satan working on us.
That's not Satan working, that's the American legal system and it's not a surprise James feels this way. He came out as anti-gay during his failed bid to win a U.S. Senate seat in 2012, saying that being gay is a choice. He later lost his job on Fox Sports because of his views on gay people and he then alleged discrimination based on his religious beliefs.
By supporting the brief, the Patriots and the other companies did not say their employees had to agree with them, so there is no coercion here. James now works for the Family Research Council, and he can rest assured that his current employer shares the same views on gay people that he does.