The NFL’s main social media accounts remained silent about Pride Month on its first day
The start of Pride Month, held annually on June 1, came and went on Monday, and the NFL’s X account, which serves more than 36 million followers, and its Instagram account, which serves 32 million followers, made no mention of the event.
Let that sink in for a moment.
In the past years, league accounts that told fans “football is gay”, “football is lesbian”, football is gay, transgender, bisexual, remained silent on this issue for everyone. The National Football League’s social media accounts were all about football this year.
The league made a post that Myles Garrett was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. About the AJ Brown trade to the New England Patriots. About Odell Beckham signing with the New York Giants. And Raymond Berry is dying.
So this might mean something.
Or nothing.
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For conservatives, Christians and others, it’s a small victory that they hope extends throughout the month and eventually to the league’s individual teams, many of whom celebrate Pride Month on its first day. Nine of the 32 teams did not recognize Pride Month on Monday.
For some gay activists, the NFL’s action (or inaction) on social media Monday means they hope some executives will correct an oversight as early as Tuesday morning. Otherwise, it would be a huge loss for activists who want their sexuality to be celebrated and amplified by the nation’s most popular sports league.
Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community attend the Say Gay Any rally after the Florida Senate passed a bill banning sexual orientation and gender identity lessons in elementary schools on March 13, 2022, in Miami Beach, Florida. (Chandan Khanna/AFP)
Whatever that means, that’s where we stand in 2026: Companies, small businesses, universities, individuals and, yes, sports leagues are being watched on the first day of Pride Month to see how they handle the divisive issue.
We say divisive because there is no winner in the middle of the review. Knowing the moon or being left out sends a sad message someone whatever the choice.
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Major League Baseball, the NBA and even the NHL recognized the start of Pride Month on Monday. The professional hockey league did this by changing its logo to rainbow colors, betraying its own corporate branding.
So the NFL was different from its counterparts in professional sports, at least for one day. It was also different than in the past, when he saluted Pride Month on its first day and even brought it up once. We’re celebrating LGBTQ history month.
This doesn’t mean the NFL no longer supports gay issues. Supports them all year round on its website and through other means, including fundraising events and promotions. But this time the omission of messaging, intentional or otherwise, was notable.
When it comes to the league’s teams, the nine teams that refuse to mention Pride Month are generally the same group that has done so in the past.
The New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints did not recognize Pride Month on social media. Most of these did not happen last year either.
At this point, we remind you that; it’s a snapshot in time. The NFL may offer a Pride Month celebration in the hours or days after this article is published. Teams that are selected can easily participate in the coming days.
The Indianapolis Colts, for example, have been going back and forth on their Pride Month celebration posts for the past two years. However, they were the first NFL team to post about Pride Month this year.
So why do we count? Because we live in an increasingly populist society where one side insists that sexuality should be celebrated and wants others to join in, while the other side increasingly resists and believes that a month-long celebration of an extreme sexuality is intolerable.
It is enough to read the responses to the teams to understand that both are so.
It’s also interesting that Pride Month and the corporate sycophancy it encourages creates strange dynamics. Example:
WASHINGTON COMMANDERS WHO DEFENDED GAY PRIDE CELEBRATED HAPPY MUSLIM DAY
The Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans and Minnesota Vikings are among the teams saluting Pride Month on Monday.
However, this apparently makes these teams seem quite conflicted on social media because in March they also celebrated the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, by commemorating Eid al-Fitr.
While the Vikings celebrated the Muslim holiday on the X, the Texans and Eagles celebrated it on Facebook.
Controversy broke out in New York after the Trump administration removed a Pride flag from a national monument. (Spencer Platt/Getty)
Like Christianity and Judaism, the Muslim religion has strict teachings against homosexuality.
But it wasn’t just the Commanders, Vikings and Eagles who created conflict between the celebration of homosexuality and the orthodoxy of the Muslim religion on Monday.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani published a detailed (for X) post about how it would take more than a month to “honor the contributions of queer and transgender New Yorkers.”
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Mamdani was born in Uganda, is a Sharia Muslim, and has publicly embraced her religious identity while constantly praising her home country.
However, Uganda enacted the Anti-Homosexuality Law in 2023, which imposes life imprisonment for homosexual acts and the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality. And traditional Sharia treats homosexual acts as criminal offenses.
Yep, pretty disturbing for someone celebrating the start of Pride Month.
FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO
