Many players host youth football camps. Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders (who gave us one of the best moments of the 2024 season) is hosting on Saturday a unique youth football camp.
Via Ben Morse of CNN.com, Saunders’s football camp is specifically intended for youths in the LBTQ+ community.
Saunders will be joined by his brother, Kameron, for the event in their hometown of St. Louis. Kameron, a choreographer and dancer, is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Khalen credits Kameron for opening Khalen’s mind to the importance of inclusivity.
The goal for the camp is, per Khalen, to “create a safe space within sports to have everybody feel welcome to be who they are.”
“I think [Kameron] has been to almost every single game that I’ve had, from when I was eight [until] now, so he’s always been there,” Khalen Saunders told Morse. “So my intention with this camp is to unify everybody and just promote positivity and empathy amongst others as far as just being accepting of everybody and showing everybody love.”
Khalen wants members of the LGBTQ+ community to be able to attend sporting events without worry.
“[W]ith my brother being able to come to all my events and feel comfortable being himself, I would want anybody who has a brother or family member in general that comes to their sporting events to feel safe and welcomed when they when they attend that,” Khalen said.
He also wants athletes from the LGBTQ+ community to feel safe and welcome, too.
“If you run a 4.5 second or less 40-yard dash, you’re fast,” Khalen said. “If you jump a 35-inch vertical or higher, you jump high. If you can bench press 225 more than 20 times, you’re very strong. I think that the space within sports for LGBTQ+ members, it’s very limited and I understand that which is why I’m trying to hold this camp and try and promote positivity around that.
“If you got it, you got it. And I’ve seen great athletes be shied away for several reasons. I would just not want gender identification or sexual orientation to be one of those reasons.”
Khalen said has experienced “very toxic heterosexual climates” in football locker rooms, and he attributes that behavior to “ignorance” due to “learned traits and learned behaviors.”
And so his goal is to educate. Not indoctrinate.
“This is not an attempt to sway any child to be of any sexual orientation or gender identification or anything like that,” Khalen said. “This is just teaching children to be accepting of those who are. . . . Let’s break that [cycle] and educate our children. That way they know the differences, they know the feelings, they know everything. And then we can progress towards a better society, instead of creating division and hate amongst things that could easily be out ruled by simple education.”
It really is simple, at its core. Live your life. Let others live their lives. Have respect for everyone.
