NFL DE Carl Nassib announces charitable partnership with Trevor Project for Pride Month – USA TODAY
Carl Nassib, the NFL’s first active openly gay player, announced a charitable partnership with The Trevor Project in a post commemorating Pride Month this Sunday via Instagram.
Nassib will be making a donation match up to $100,000.
“We’re so grateful to Carl for his public commitment to supporting LGBTQ youth mental health,” said Trevor Project CEO Amit Paley. “Carl has inspired others to live their own truth, donate to The Trevor Project’s life-saving mission, and to accept and support the LGBTQ people in their lives.”
The Trevor Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health awareness for LGBTQ youth. According to the 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide over the course of the last year.
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The partnership comes just over a year after Nassib came out as gay, becoming the first active NFL player to publicly come out. His announcement posted on Instagram coincides with a previous $100,000 donation to The Trevor Project, which the NFL and Las Vegas Raiders both matched.
“For someone like me, who has been so lucky and cherishes every day, it brings me incredible sadness to think that our LGBTQ youth are at such an elevated risk for suicide.” said Nassib in his coming-out post last June. “I feel an immense responsibility to help in any way I can — and you can too.”
Following Nassib’s coming out, the Trevor Project’s website traffic more than tripled, mostly comprised of first-time visitors.
“It was a really cool way to engage people who might not have known about us before,” said Kevin Wong, Vice President of Communications at The Trevor Project.
“We have to remember the impact of something like that. If they don’t know about us, or if they maybe haven’t really thought about supporting the LGBTQ people in our lives. Maybe they think twice about that. Maybe they’re better equipped to handle conversation around mental health or suicide and preventing suicide in their friends and family circles.”
Trevor Project offers free 24/7 crisis services operated by highly trained crisis counselors. According to Wong, the crisis line serviced over 200,000 LGBTQ+ youth last year.
“From our very first conversations with Carl, and every conversation since, he has never once wanted any of the attention on him,” said Wong. “He wants to shine a spotlight on the Trevor Project. That’s such a pure thing.”
Match-eligible donations can be made to TRVR.org/CarlMatch.
