An anti-gay Republican lobbyist has launched a boycott of Visa and the St Louis Rams, after the drafting of the NFL’s first openly gay player, Michael Sam.

Jack Burkman had last week threatened to “financially rough up” the team that drafted Sam, who joined the Rams on Saturday.



The Republican lobbyist had said on Friday “he will leverage his political clout to make sure that team [which takes on Sam] gets roughed up financially.”

Today, he announced that he would make good on his threat, beginning a boycott of Visa, which signed an endorsement deal with Sam last week, and his new team the St Louis Rams.

He said: “Visa and the Rams will learn that when you trample the Christian community and Christian values, there will be a terrible financial price to pay.

“Openly gay football players send a terrible message to our youth about morality. Somebody needs to step up because the moral fiber of the nation is eroding.”

Burkman claims the boycott will be joined by a coalition of evangelical Christian leaders, and ‘influential grassroots organisations’ in 27 states.

As part of the protest, members of the public will be asked to cut up or stop using their Visa cards, and to sell any stocks they own.

Fans of the Rams will be told to stop buying merchandise, and to not attend any games until Sam is removed from the team.

He is also pushing for a law titled the ‘American Decency Act’, which would ban all openly gay athletes.