Former star NFL wide receiver Dez Bryant also voiced his frustrations over the league’s messaging, saying the NFL has gone too far in pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda for a league that’s supposed to focus on football.
The start of Pride Month came and went without public recognition from 10 National Football League franchises.
Pride Month, which runs from June 1 through June 30, is dedicated to honoring the LGBTQ community. It was formally recognized at the federal level in 1999 when President Bill Clinton declared it “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.”
In 2011, President Barack Obama expanded the recognition to include the broader LGBT community. President Joe Biden continued that recognition after taking office.
President Donald Trump did not officially recognize Pride Month in 2017, although he tweeted support during his time in office.
Some clubs, like the Pittsburgh Steelers, did not acknowledge the celebration until Monday. In the case of the Steelers, the official account did not post directly to commemorate Pride, but instead retweeted a post from the Steelers Community Relations Twitter account.
The NFL teams that did not publish statements or social media posts acknowledging Pride Month, according to The Spun, on Sunday, June 1, include:
Former star NFL wide receiver Dez Bryant also voiced his frustrations over the league’s messaging, saying the NFLs has gone too far in pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda for a league that’s supposed to focus on football.
Bryant’s comments came after a video originally posted by the NFL in 2021 began recirculating online.
“Football is gay, Football is queer, Football is transgender.. these are wild statements to make..excuse my silliness. ,” Bryant posted on X. “I’m going to proudly tell my boys football is none of these things. I have nothing against Gays, but this is far from right.”
In 2022, the NFL unveiled an updated version of its pride shield logo, which now includes the colors of the trans flag and the intersectional queer black and brown community.
"We are proud to support and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community every day, not just in June. Happy pride month to our fans, players, staff, and the LGBTQ+ community," the league said at the time.
"Together, the colors of the NFL pride shield represent the heart and soul of the LGBTQ+ community. In order to make our shield more inclusive, we added light blue, pink, and white to reflect the colors of the transgender flag along with black and brown stripes to include marginalized LGBTQ+ communities of color.
"The NFL's #PRIDE365 efforts over the past year include making charitable donations to organizations including the Trevor Project, Celebrating Spirit with GLAAD, promoting national coming out day across the league, inclusive marketing efforts with our 'Football is Gay' campaign, a night of pride at SBLVI, allyship efforts with the covenant house LA, a NGFFL (National Gay Flag Football League) draft pick and so much more,” the league added in the post.
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