Sean Avery is a hockey bruiser who plays for the New York Rangers. In the very macho world of professional ice hockey, Avery has made a career out of using whatever tactics he needs, physical and mental, to give his team the edge. He’s the kind of player you love if he is on your team, and you hate if he’s not.

Against that back-drop, Sean Avery joined the Campaign for Marriage Equality in New York.

A month after Kobe Bryant used a homophobic slur to insult a ref in a basketball game, Sean Avery publicly stated his support for gay marriage.

He even made a video about it.

In the still homophobic, overly macho world of professional male sports, Sean Avery spoke out for marriage equality.

And hockey agent Todd Reynolds, of the Uptown Sports Management agency, said he was sad to see Avery do that when he tweeted out:

Very sad to read Sean Avery’s misguided support of same-gender “marriage”. Legal or not, it will always be wrong.

And when he got called out for doing so, he answered by saying:

To clarify. This is not hatred or bigotry towards gays. It is not intolerance in any way shape or form. I believe we are all equal… But I believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. This is my personal viewpoint. I Do not hate anyone.

Now, see… this isn’t about whether or not Todd Reynolds hates someone. It is about how he would use his position as a sports agent to try to silence those who would speak out for equality, understanding and love.

I care that he, as an agent, would publicly express his viewpoint that Sean Avery’s support is “misguided.” If I am a player represented by Reynolds, do I feel comfortable supporting gay marriage or Avery’s stance? Do I wonder how that will affect the way Reynolds will promote my career?

I care that one of the first professional male athletes to make a public stance supporting gay marriage got immediately called out for it by part of the “business” of sport. And I care that will make the second athlete who might publicly support gay marriage think twice.

And most importantly, I worry that there are thousands of young, gay athletes who stay in the closet because of the homophobia of too much of the sports world.

And I worry that Todd Reynolds either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about any of that.

So let’s make it better.

According to both his agency page and the NHLPA.com agent page, Mr. Reynolds’ email is todd@uptownsports.ca. Let’s help him see how important it is that he understands why Sean Avery wasn’t misguided, he was right. He was brave. He was strong.

And he was needed.

Let’s all send Mr. Reynolds our favorite It Gets Better videos. Let’s tell him the stories we know of kids who need to see gay as normal, as o.k., as accepted.

I’m going to send him one of my favorites. This one:

Let’s make it better.