NFL Cozies Up To LGBTQ With Thursday Night Fluff Piece

It NFL wasn’t whistling Dixie earlier this year when it released a video identifying as gay, lesbian, queer and transgender. The NFL Network is following up on that bizarre PSA by running a GLAAD-pleasing feature right after Thursday’s 49ers-Titans game. The program, which replays Dec. 28, will profile five LGBTQ people on the impact of the Las Vegas Raiders’ Carl Nassib coming out of the closet earlier this year.

The “NFL 360” segment is hosted by Melissa Stark and titled, “We Are All Human.” Featured will be former NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan, who came out after playing for the Patriots and Chiefs; Avery Saffold, who played for Amherst College; NFL Senior Diversity and Inclusion Director Sam Rapoport; Casey Pick, Senior Fellow for Advocacy and Government Affairs at The Trevor Project; and Jake Streder, who played at Matea Valley High School in Aurora, Ill.

Streder’s appearance on the NFL Network will allow him to bring LGBTQ pride to his home and end his prep career. “They gave me this incredible gift to pay it forward and be a voice of support and encouragement to believe in yourself and not let being LGBTQ+ hold you back,” he gushed in a story by Jim Buzinski of Outsports.

Buzinski says these experiences of the five people featured “are universal.” Rapoport gives a “touching recollection” of coming out to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during a Super Bowl event. Goodell loved to hold her hand and be affectionate with her partner. Saffold explains his growing up black and homosexual in South Chicago “where there are rampant levels of homophobia.” O’Callaghan had suicidal thoughts and went through therapy.

Troy Vincent is a former player in pro football and currently serves as the NFL’s executive vice president for football operations.

Vincent is practically the leader of the league’s virtue signaling to the LGBTQ cause. In October 2020, Vincent said to “all current players who are thinking of coming out, when you are ready, so are we.” The NFL issued a video then as well, stating “it takes all of us.” Also, NFL Films has previously featured the “National Gay Flag Football League.”

There’s no doubt about it. It’s a great time at the National Football League.