Buffalo bills gay
Cole Beasley criticizes Buffalo Bills for partnering with the National Gay Flag Football League
The Buffalo Bills made headlines earlier this week when the became a sponsor of the National Gay Flag Football League.
Now they are by no means the first NFL team to have a partnership with the league, however this is still a touchy subject in American society.
Whilst being openly queer is much more socially acceptable than it was in previous eras, there is still unfortunately a bizarre connection between professional male sports and homosexuality.
It's rare that a player comes out whilst still playing professionally, due to fears of the negative attention they will acquire , as happened with Michael Sam when he came out as gay just before being selected in the NFL Draft.
As a result, there has been a rather mixed response to the Buffalo Bills' announcement, not least from their former wide receiver, Cole Beasley.
What did Beasley say?
On Tuesday, the Bills made waves on social media with their announcement of back for NGFFL, a non-profit sports league established in 2002 with over 250 teams across 26 leagues in the US, and they released an official statement marki
The Buffalo Bills sparked conservative backlash after announcing it would sponsor a homosexual flag football league this week.
The Buffalo Bills is sponsoring a chapter of the National Same-sex attracted Flag Football League, the team announced in a urge statement on Tuesday. The press free described the sponsorship as a "game changer for bringing LGBTQ+ organized football to Buffalo" and as an opportunity to make the league "even more inclusive."
The league was founded in 2002 and aims to "foster and cultivate the self-respect of all LGBTQ+ people and promote respect, acceptance and kind from the larger community," according to its website. The league already has support from several football teams, and a new team could come to Buffalo under the new sponsorship.
LGBTQ+ acceptance remains a hot-button culture war issue, even as many polls show Americans becoming increasingly supportive of rights for the LGBTQ+ group. The past scant years have seen conservatives ramp up criticism of brands that collaborate with members of the LGBTQ+ community, at times even principal to boycotts of these companies.
The Bills' announcement sparked a wave of backlash from high-profile conservative comme
The NFL now has the first openly gay player in league history after Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out, but Buffalo Bills legend Bruce Smith joint this week that there have been gay players in the league for much longer than that — though not as open as Nassib.
After years of speculation and rumors that one or more players were ready to come out, Nassib made history in a upload in which he announced that he is an openly gay man. In praising Nassib, the mythical Bills defensive end said that he had homosexual teammates in Buffalo and it was never an issue in the locker room.
Smith Opens Up On Bills Teams
Speaking to TMZ, Smith revealed that he had a gay teammate on the Bills — and possibly another one as well. He noted that it was never an issue for him or his teammates.
“We had a gay player in our locker room,” Smith said. “I think it was the mid- to late-90s, and I reflect we might have had two. But that wasn’t what we were focused on. We were focused on winning games. And each and every person that was in that locker room was contributing to the goal at hand, which was winning football games. None of that other stuff mattered. T
The Buffalo Bills are working to help to start a recent LGBTQ flag football league in the Western New York area. The team is sponsoring the burgeoning league in Buffalo, which is being launched in conjunction with the National Gay Flag Football League.
“We are thrilled to bring inclusive flag football to Buffalo with the support of the Buffalo Bills. This thrilling addition joins 27 other cities, and over 4,000 players, including straight allies, in the National Gay Flag Football League,” said NGFFL Commissioner Joel Horton.
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“We are excited to participate the NFL and other clubs across the league in their support of the NGFFL,” said Buffalo Bills Vice President of Community Impact Michelle Roberts. “Through our sponsorship, we are looking forward to expanding the impact of the NGFFL in our community.”
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