NFL to host Pride Night with ZERO out gay players in the league

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Well, at least they can say they tried… or can they?

This year, the very straight-leaning National Football League (NFL) is doubling down on their “commitment” to be more inclusive toward the LGBTQ+ community by hosting their third annual “Night of Pride” event with GLAAD at Super Bowl LVIII, despite not having a single openly gay player in the match.

“GLAAD’s partnership with the NFL is committed to creating spaces where all fans can celebrate and to growing important visibility for LGBTQ fans at the Super Bowl and all season long,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement.

The NFL’s Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Jonathan Bean, seconded the notion saying the event is “yet another strong step to accelerating acceptance and demonstrating the NFL’s unwavering support of the LGBTQ community.”

Well, he says unwavering, but anyone who remembers Michael Sam’s treatment when he became the first openly gay player drafted in the league back in 2013 will know that’s not entirely accurate.

Still, it’s nice to see some strides in the right direction. On top of the GLAAD Pride Night, the league will also host the second annual Pride Flag Football Clinic at the Super Bowl Experience to show ally ship toward LGBTQ+ youth and promoting the National Gay Football League. When the latter declared itself in 2021, the NFL also alerted the world that football is “lesbian,” “beautiful,” “queer,” “transgender,” and for “everyone.” This was also the same year Carl Nassib made history by becoming the first active football player to come out.

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It’s great that America’s most popular sport has finally recognized it’s more than just for cis straight men, and it’s great that they’re at least pretending to care about these types of social issues.

That said, we all know the NFL is also no stranger to throwing around some money to keep up appearances and say what they need when they need to, so we’ll still take it all with a grain of salt. Maybe next time, they’ll host a Pride Night with some openly gay players in the league, and then we’ll start to believe them.