Maybe it was the assurance that the legalization of same-sex marriage would not turn him into a “lustful cockmonster,” or perhaps the outpouring of support for the NFL player he denounced, but Maryland Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr. is backing off his venomous criticism of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo.

Burns, a Democrat from Baltimore County, won himself a bit of national notoriety last week after WBAL obtained a letter he sent to the Ravens condemning Ayanbadejo’s support for Maryland’s marriage equality law. In his letter, Burns claimed his constituents were “appalled and aghast” that someone of Ayanbadejo’s stature would back same-sex marriage.

Today, Burns is walking it back, telling The Baltimore Sun that he and Ayanbadejo are just exercising their First Amendment rights. “Each of us has the right to speak our opinions. The football player and I have a right to speak our minds,” Burns said.

The delegate was apparently unaware of the First Amendment until a column published Friday on Deadspin by Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who like Ayanbadejo, is active in the push to legalize same-sex marriage in his own state. Kluwe was unsparing in his rebuke to Burns, writing that the delegate’s apparent disconnect between professional sports and civil rights (Kenny Washington, Jackie Robinson, the pre-1962 Washington Redskins) was indicative of a “colossal foot in mouth clusterfuck.”

Burns sent his letter after learning that Ayanbadejo gave tickets to yesterday’s season opener to Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the organization that is attempting to beat back a ballot referendum in November that would overturn the same-sex marriage law before it takes place. In Minnesota, Kluwe is active in a group that is seeking to defeat an amendment to the state constitution that would outlaw same-sex marriage.

Domonique Foxworth, the president of the NFL Players Association, also defended Ayanbadejo, as did the Ravens organization, which responded to Burns’ letter with a simple reminder of the existence of the First Amendment.

Kluwe, of course, went much further in his Deadspin article, assuring Burns that gay couples who marry would have no impact on his own family: “They won’t come into your house and steal your children,” Kluwe wrote. “They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster.”