I love this story.
Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League, has a younger brother, Michael, who came out as gay after college.
But Michael tells the story of how big brother Roger would protect him from bullies when they were younger:
“Absolutely, he would beat the crap out of people,” Michael says. “Roger was not Atticus Finch.”
When Michael Goodell hears those stories of LGBTQ youth who kill themselves as a result of bullying, he remembers that it could have been him, there but for the grace of God, and his brother:
“I was the type who would have been beat up a lot. It would have been humiliating. What would that have meant if I did survive it. Would I have done drugs? There are all sorts of things you can turn to because of self-hatred and loathing. But none of that was even a possibility, because I had this support around me. So, yeah, Roger is very much a hero figure for me.”
For his part, Roger Goodell claims not to have known that: “That’s the first time I heard that. I didn’t know it had much impact on him.”
It just proves that all LGBTQ youth need to protect themselves from bullies is an ally, someone who will stick up for them, and stand by them, and show them that they aren’t any different than anyone else. In other words, a big brother like Roger Goodell.
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