Total Pro Sports
New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders is launching a LBGTQ-friendly football camp this summer in his push to show that football is for everyone.
Per Andrew Lang of the Saints’ official team website, Khalen Saunders announced at the GLAAD Media Awards that he’s hosting a football combine to include youths in the LBGTQ community. He was joined by former NFL defensive end Ryan Russell, who came out as bisexual in 2019.
Here’s what Saunders said on the upcoming football camp:
“These are people who feel like they have to be hidden, although they might love the sport, they might love the NFL, they might love football in general as a sport, but they kind of shy away from it just because of orientations, or all these other kind of outside things…
“That’s my goal to continue to spread positive energy around that because football is for everybody. Football is for all.”
Missouri standout defensive lineman Michael Sam was the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL when the St. Louis Rams used a seventh-round pick (249th overall) on him in 2014.
In 2021, then-Las Vegas Raiders defensive end/linebacker Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay. He also pledged $100,000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that aims to prevent suicide for youths in the LGBTQ+ community.
🚨NEWS: #Saints standout defensive tackle Khalen Saunders says he is hosting an LGBTQ Youth Football Camp.
“The #NFL is very male-dominant and heterosexual dominant, and it feels as though there's not really a space for the LGBTQ community.”
Sanders says football is for all. pic.twitter.com/Da6ukAvg8N
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) April 2, 2025
With more awareness about mental health, bullying and harassment that members of the LGBTQ+ community go through, there have been global pushes to stop the hate and protect their freedom and well-being. LGBTQ+ members know they can count Khalen Saunders as an ally now.
The 28-year-old Saunders was a third-round pick (84th overall) of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019. The Western Illinois product won Super Bowl 54 and 57 championship rings in KC before signing a three-year deal with New Orleans in 2019.
Saunders was a rotational player over his four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, making just five starts in that period. But he’s become a full-time player since joining the Saints, making starts in 27 of his first 30 games with the NFC South club.
Through his first six NFL seasons, Khalen Saunders has 6.5 sacks, six pass breakups and one interception.
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