Thank you, Sean Avery, for taking a stand

What does LeBron James really stand for?

What does Derek Jeter really stand for?

What does Aaron Rodgers really stand for?

Besides playing hard and winning games and being non-controversial enough not to offend anyone who might want to buy the shoe/deodorant/car they are currently hawking, we really have no idea what the biggest names in sports believe on a variety of issues.

This is why I consider what Sean Avery did this week to be a watershed moment in sports. The Rangers forward, along with several other prominent New Yorkers including former president Bill Clinton, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actress Julianne Moore, taped a public service announcement for the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign in support of same-sex marriage.

"I'm Sean Avery, and I'm a New York for marriage equality," Avery said in the 30-second PSA. "I treat everyone the way I expect to be treated and that applies to marriage."

Avery might be a bit of a thug on the ice and a terrible ex-boyfriend (ask actress Elisha Cuthbert), but he is a trailblazer in sports when it comes to standing up for what he believes in. What Avery did is not the same as coming out in support of something like staying in school or Iraqi war vets or even something semi-controversial such as animal rights. This is about taking a stand on a subject that a percentage of his fans - and apparently a percentage of people in his industry - have strong and contrary feelings about.

Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 1995, but apparently that fact still rankles a few people up there. A Canadian sports agent named Todd Reynolds, whose agency represents about 10 NHL players, posted the following message on Twitter: "Very sad to read Sean Avery's misguided support of same gender 'marriage.' Legal or not, it will always be wrong." Now, a Canadian TV host named Damian Goddard has found himself without a job after re-tweeting Reynolds and his support for the "traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage."

I'm not sure how I feel about Goddard's firing, given that I don't know exactly what the social media policy of his employer was. I should state right here that I am firmly in the Avery camp but have friends and relatives who grapple with the issue and do not think as I do that being against same-sex marriage is discrimination. No matter where you stand on the issue of same-sex marriage, however, I believe we are indebted to Avery for helping to ignite a public discussion.

And this is why we should care what sports figures think, or the fact that they do think at all. Years ago, it wasn't uncommon for sports figures to take a controversial stand. Muhammad Ali was against the Vietnam War. The black-power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics, while now celebrated as a watershed moment in the Civil Rights movement, enraged many observers at the time and actually caused both athletes to receive death threats.

Sports figures are always talking about being rebels and independent thinkers, yet so few today really are. I mean, is LeBron Jame really a rebel because he decided to get a group of his friends together and go play basketball in Miami? Please. It takes some guts to stand up for something more controversial than oneself or the style of shoes you like to wear. Let's hope Avery is not the last to do it.