New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has recorded a promotional video for the anti-LGBTQ organization Focus on the Family.
Brees appears in a video promoting "Bring Your Bible To School Day," according to Big Easy Magazine.
"I want to encourage you to live out your faith," Brees says in the video. "Share God's love with friends."
While Focus On The Family is never explicitly mentioned, the video directs viewers to BringYourBible.org, a website published by Focus On The Family. While the soft-toned proselytizing of the Brees video may not immediately offend, the association with the group drew ire online.
"For all those 'it was just about the Bible' folks: If you do something for an organization, you are casting your lot with that organization and all it does," wrote Twitter user @politicsbos.
And Focus On The Family boasts quite a history as an organization.
James Dobson, who in 2016 suggested killing trans people who use restrooms associated with their gender identity, founded the group. The organization has also pushed for so-called "religious freedom" laws upholding businesses' rights to discriminate based on sexuality and gender identity.
Focus On The Family briefly promoted the video on its own Facebook page, screenshots online show, but later took the video off that channel. It remains viewable on Bring Your Bible's YouTube channel.
Brees in the past has signaled his support for LGBTQ youth. He joined Ellen DeGeneres, a New Orleans native, in signing a petition encouraging a PG-13 rating for the film Bully so it would be more accessible to young viewers, for example. He also has appeared on DeGeneres's talk show to speak out against bullying.
The quarterback has not publicly addressed the controversy over Focus On The Family's ties to the Bring Your Bible video.
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