He didn’t think he could ever live as an out gay man. Throughout his NFL career and time playing football at Cal, O’Callaghan hid he was gay, assuming everyone in football would reject him if they knew. “The response shows people’s lack of understand and ignorance,” he said. This comment got over 15k likes:įormer NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan, who played three seasons with the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs, thinks supporting Pride has everything to do with the NFL. A post shared by NFL many fans have endorsed the display of support for the LGBTQ community with many thousands of likes and shares, others have resorted to some old tropes pushing back against the LGBTQ community with threats of boycotts and other annoyed expressions.Ī common theme amongst the naysayers on the NFL’s Instagram post was questioning what Pride has to do with football.