Gay Flag FootballerTo Announce NFL Draft #PinkInOurLives

In a historic first, a representative of the national Gay Flag Football League will announce the third-round pick for the Arizona Cardinals on the second day of the 2022 NFL draft.

Joel Horton, the Gay Bowl liaison for the National Gay Flag Football League, the nonprofit organization representing more than 200 LGBTQ flag football teams in over 22 cities, has been invited to announce the Arizona Cardinals’ third-round draft pick — No. 87 out of 262 in total — on Friday, April, 29, the second day of the draft.

This year’s NFL draft — an annually televised seven-round event in which all 32 NFL teams select various rookie players to add to their pre-season rosters, in the hope of eventually making a final 53-man roster — will be streamed from Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip, in Paradise, Nevada.

While most first-round picks are announced by the NFL Commissioner, teams routinely select famous players or former players, local community groups, representatives of campaigns or causes, or members of their own fan base to announce special first-rounders or latter-round picks.

Prior to Horton announcing the pick, the NFL will play a video touting the NGFFL, Gay Bowl, and the NFL’s support for the organization. Joining Horton on stage as he announces the pick will be NGFFL board members Shigeo Iwamiya and Jodie Turner.

Horton, a longtime member of the Phoenix Gay Flag Football League, who has also played for NGFFL’s New York and D.C. leagues, has previously praised Cardinals CFO Greg Lee as being instrumental in building a relationship between the team and the LGBTQ community.

“He was very open and receptive to finding ways to partner,” Horton said of Lee. “He’s taken personal time to get to know the league and why we love it so much. With that personal connection it’s enabled him to leverage the resources of an NFL franchise to engage the community.”

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