The National Coming Out Day is celebrated every year on October 11 as an LGBTQ awareness day. This day is set aside to encourage people belonging to said communities to come out of the closet and be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity. In order to show its support of the day, the National Football League (NFL) has opted to donate $100,000 to Project Trevor, a mental health and suicide prevention organization for members of the LGTBQ community.

Leah Kartun, the Trevor Project’s Corporate Partnerships Manager, thanked the league for the gesture, saying, “The NFL’s generous support of our life-affirming work not only helps us scale our crisis services for LGBTQ youth around the country and world, but it also spreads a message of love and acceptance directly to LGBTQ young people who may interact with the brand”.

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Kartun, in the statement, has also pointed out the importance of the NFL being associated with the project. According to her, the popularity of the NFL among the United States‘ youth will make sure that LGBTQ people across the country will which can have a really meaningful impact on them feeling loved and part of a larger community who supports their existence.”

The NFL’s Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Jonathan Beane, said that the league is proud of its association with the Trevor Project and that it will work alongside the organization to “expand our efforts around inclusivity and to continue to strengthen our relationship with the LGBTQ community”.

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It was Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Carl Nassib who can be thanked for the NFL’s association with the Trevor Project. Nassib, in 2021, had come out as gay and donated $100,000 to the organization. The NFL then matched the donation. Nassib has again donated the same amount to the project, with the NFL following suit.

The NFL supports a number of organizations that work for LGBTQ communities. It is associated with organizations like GLAAD and Covenant House, and is a “founding sponsor” of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center.