by Jeroslyn JoVonn
April 8, 2025
NFL player Khalen Saunders is deepening his support for the LGBTQ+ community with the launch of a new youth football camp.
New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders has partnered with GLAAD and the NFL Pride Football Combine to launch a summer youth football program that embraces and supports LGBTQ+ youth.
Saunders, whose brother Kameron Saunders is a backup dancer for Taylor Swift, announced the LGBTQ+-inclusive youth football camp at the 2025 GLAAD Media Awards. He shared that his inspiration for launching the camp came from his role as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.
“Being an ally is more than just saying I support, but it’s also showing up,” Saunders said on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “Being in the NFL is very male-dominant and heterosexual, and it feels as though there’s not really a space for the LGBTQ community.”
The St. Louis native expressed his pride in partnering with GLAAD and the NFL Pride Football Combine to help make football more inclusive—an effort that aligns with one of the core pillars of his Original Element foundation.
“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,” Saunders said.
“That’s my goal to continue to spread positive energy around that because football is for everybody,” he added. “Football is for all.”
His inclusive mindset traces back to childhood, when he was open to learning ballet moves from his younger brother.
“Back in the day, he’d be educating…he’d be like, ‘Oh that was a pirouette,’ and telling us whatever they’re doing in the class,” Saunders told People in November 2025.
Saunders announced his camp, set to kick off on July 5, alongside former Dallas Cowboys player RK Russell, who publicly came out as bisexual in 2019.
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