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 gay is much more socially acceptable than it was in previous eras, there is still unfortunately a bizarre relationship 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 receive, 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.
On Tuesday, the Bills made waves on social media with their announcement of support 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 marking their position.
“We’re proud to support the National Gay Flag Football League with a sponsorship to launch a league in Buffalo!” the Bills posted on Instagram.
However, this was met with a rather perplexed response from the former receiver.
“But why?” Beasley commented.
Whilst there may not be anything overtly offensive about Beasley‘s statement, it perpetuates the cycle of not willing to try and break down the walls professional sport has put up to homosexual players.
Beasley is almost suggesting that the importance of a Gay Flag Football league is so minimal that it doesn’t warrant any support from the Bills, which is a very depressing attitude.
