NFL Kicker Harrison Butker Rails Against Pride Month
In a commencement address, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker ranted against Pride Month, liberal Catholics, and women who work.
Harrison Butker, the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, has given any self-respecting LGBTQ person a reason to cheer against the defending Super Bowl champions next football season.
On May 11, Butker, a Georgia native, delivered a 20-minute screed ranting against LGBTQ people and working women as part of a commencement address at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas.
Butker, a self-professed conservative Catholic, whose hostility towards LGBTQ people is much more severe than that of Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church, used his address to attack President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Catholic abortion rights supporters, and LGBTQ people who embrace their identity.
“While COVID might have played a large role throughout your formative years it is not unique. Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues,” Butker said. “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder….
“If we are going to be men and women for this time in history we need to stop pretending that the ‘Church of nice’ is a winning proposition,” he continued, urging graduates to be more confrontational in their approach to the world outside of the Catholic Church. “We must always speak and act in charity but never mistake charity for cowardice.”
Butker criticized an article by The Associated Press highlighting a shift toward conservatism among some segments of American Catholics, even though a majority of self-identified Catholics do not regularly attend Church and hold more liberal views on social issues like abortion and gay rights.
Praising Benedictine College’s leadership for emphasizing adherence to “traditional Catholic values” while taking a shot at the LGBTQ community, Butker said, “I am certain the reporters at the AP could not have imagined that their attempt to rebuke and embarrass places and people like those here at Benedictine wouldn’t be met with anger, but instead with excitement and pride. Not the deadly sin sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it. But the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify Him.”
Butker also criticized priests within the Catholic Church for embracing a mindset more focused on social justice and being approachable to their parishioners, rather than acting as stern, unyielding teachers who demand strict compliance with Church teaching and are less eager to grant forgiveness to sinners.
“Tragically, so many priests revolve much of their happiness from the adulation they receive from their parishioners, and in searching for this, they let their guard down and become overly familiar. This undue familiarity will prove to be problematic every time, because as my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,'” he said, quoting musician Taylor Swift, the girlfriend of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
He later addressed the women in the audience, telling them that their “most important title” should be that of “homemaker,” decrying the “diabolical lies” that are told to women insisting that they can balance a career with raising a family.
“Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,” he said. “I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
Both Kelce and Swift, as well as the Chiefs organization, have declined to comment publicly on Butker’s remarks.
LGBTQ activists — as well as a number of Taylor Swift fans incensed by Butker’s indirect invocation of Swift — criticized the NFL player’s remarks.
“Harrison Butker is what I call a Toddler Christian, meaning he ignores all of Christ’s teachings that may be even slightly inconvenient (non-judgment, grace, kindness, vulnerability) and obsesses over condemnation of others, which is an incredibly lazy + pathetic spiritual life,” transgender activist Charlotte Clymer wrote on X.
Harrison Butker is what I call a Toddler Christian, meaning he ignores all of Christ's teachings that may be even slightly inconvenient (non-judgment, grace, kindness, vulnerability) and obsesses over condemnation of others, which is an incredibly lazy + pathetic spiritual life. https://t.co/TNcZtfHmUe
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) May 14, 2024
“Harrison Butker doesn’t represent Kansas City nor has he ever,” former Kansas City Commissioner Justice Horn, who recently stepped down from his position as chair of the city’s LGBTQ Commission, wrote in his own post. “Kansas City has always been a place that welcomes, affirms, and embraces our LGBTQ+ community members.”
Harrison Butker doesn’t represent Kansas City nor has he ever. Kansas City has always been a place that welcomes, affirms, and embraces our LGBTQ+ community members. 🌈 pic.twitter.com/4vZ14SXgb6
— Justice Horn (@JusticeHorn_) May 14, 2024
Butker, a former Georgia Tech player, has been a mainstay on the Chiefs’ roster, along with All-Pro players Kelce, defensive tackle Chris Jones, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, as the team has become the new dominant dynasty of the football world.
In 2022, he broke the franchise record for the longest field goal ever made by a Chiefs kicker — 62 yards. He has won three Super Bowl rings with the team, and kicked the field goal to tie the game and force overtime in Super Bowl LVIII, when the team won its third against the San Francisco 49ers in February.
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