Burns Stands Ground on Ethics Rebuke

Del. Emmett Burns said he's standing his ground despite a reprimand from a legislative ethics panel over a letter he wrote last year chastising a Baltimore Ravens player who supported same-sex marriage.

"I aggressively oppose same-sex marriage and I fight for my constituents who are of the same mind," said Burns, a Baltimore County Democrat who is also a Baptist minister.

Burns wrote a letter on his official House of Delegates letterhead to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. The letter chastised linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's public support of same-sex marriage in Maryland.

In that letter, Burns urged the Ravens owner to “inhibit such expressions from your employee and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions.”

He later recanted the letter and said that Ayanbadejo had a right to support same-sex marriage.

The Maryland Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics rebuked Burns for writing the letter on state stationery.

"I felt I was representing my constituents and I still feel I was representing my constituents," Burns said Wednesday, adding that the ethics committee disagreed.

"When you take on lesbian, gay and bisexual lobby and agenda you're taking on a formidable fight," Burns said. "They come and get you but I stand my ground."

Same-sex marriage was approved by Maryland voters last year and the first marriages took place last month.