Aaron Rodgers Had History with anti-LGBTQ+ Groups

Aaron Rodgers praised Young Life in an undated video posted online by a Young Life club in 2016. (Screengrab / Facebook video.)

Aaron Rodgers has a history of involvement with and support for two evangelical organizations that reportedly had anti-LGBTQ+ policies, a number of videos and old interviews show.

The groups did not publicly engage in anti-LGBTQ+ activism, and there’s no indication that Rodgers knew about or endorsed their internal policies. He has spoken out on behalf of LGBTQ+ people on a number of occasions over the years.

Rodgers, the New York Jets quarterback, became the subject of intense scrutiny this week after he made independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, short list for running mate. Yesterday, Rodgers issued a statement about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, after CNN reported he had shared conspiracy theories years ago about the shooting and other big news events.

According to multiple interviews and videos in which Rodgers participated after he became a pro player, as recently as 2014 he was still involved with a group called Young Life that he first joined while in school. The group is known for activities and events that put a youthful, upbeat face on evangelical Christianity.

On paper, however, the group’s policies align with Biblical prohibitions against “sexual misconduct,” including a “homosexual lifestyle.” Young Life does not allow people known to be LGBTQ+ to hold leadership positions.

During his involvement with Young Life, Rodgers held leadership positions that his LGBTQ+ peers would not have been allowed to hold. (Requests for comment were sent to the Jets and the Kennedy campaign, but neither responded.)

Rodgers has called Young Life “a great organization” with “the right message.” In addition to his involvement as a student, he remained active even as a pro, supporting and endorsing Young Life publicly.

Also, in 2014, Rodgers accepted an award from Athletes in Action (AIA), a sports ministry of Cru, which was formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Like Young Life, AIA had been an influence on him, Rodgers said while accepting the award. Also like Young Life, Cru does not allow LGBTQ+ people to hold leadership positions.

Reportedly, AIA supplies team chaplains to a number of NFL teams. Author Tom Krattenmaker, who has written about evangelicals and sports, told The Nation, “Like its Campus Crusade for Christ parent organization, AIA has not been a friend to gays.”

Some students have made similar allegations about Young Life. And its official position was made explicit in an internal Young Life policy statement that has been posted online by several sources.

On “the delicate matter of homosexual lifestyle and practice,” one policy statement says, “in the light of biblical data regarding creation, Young Life believes such activities to be clearly not in accord with God’s creation purposes.

“We do not in any way wish to exclude persons who engage in sexual misconduct or who practice a homosexual lifestyle from being recipients of God’s grace and mercy as expressed in Jesus Christ. We do, however, believe that such persons are not to serve as staff or volunteers in the mission and work of Young Life.”

James Madison University’s The Breeze newspaper obtained internal Young Life discussions about how to address the issue. One talking point advised leaders to “Stress that we seek to be faithful to our sincerely held beliefs regarding sexuality while showing grace and humility toward those who do not share those beliefs.”

The document also noted the group’s interest in “creating a safe space for LGBTQ youth and for giving them a chance to experience and respond to the gospel.”

Despite Young Life’s inclusive nature, it’s not uncommon for benign-seeming evangelical groups to serve as feeder systems for more hardline organizations. A number of Young Life leaders have gone on to adopt more stringent religious and political positions.

Its board of trustees, for instance, includes former Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN), who backed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Young Life alum Doug Burleigh reportedly now runs the Fellowship Foundation, also known as The Family, the organization behind the National Prayer Breakfast.

As I’ve reported, The Family has sponsored congressional travel with an anti-LGBTQ+ itinerary. And The Family has refused to condemn Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ death penalty, even after Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) urged Uganda to “stand firm” during a trip there that was paid for by The Family.

Rodgers in recent years has distanced himself from the religious aspects of his upbringing. In 2017 he told ESPN that he’s not affiliated with any religion. And he has questioned belief in a god that condemns people to Hell.

In his 2017 ESPN interview, Rodgers said he was “incredibly proud” of retired NFL lineman Ryan O'Callaghan for coming out. “I think society is finally moving in the right direction, as far as treating all people with respect and love and acceptance and appreciation,” Rodgers said. “And the locker room, I think the sport is getting closer."

(During the same interview, Rodgers backed Colin Kaepernick, who was sidelined by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem to protest racist policing. Rodgers said he was “100 percent supportive of my teammates or any fellow players who are choosing not to” stand.)

Rodgers spoke out on behalf of LGBTQ+ people as early as January 2016. Defending the rights of kids to chant in the crowds at high-school games, Rodgers said some chants were out of bounds. “I don’t agree with any type of racist or homophobic language, any of that type of stuff from the crowd to the people on the field,” he said.

By 2019, Rodgers said in one interview, “I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery Hell.” 

Rodgers told ESPN how he left his religious past behind. "I think in people's lives who grew up in some sort of organized religion, there really comes a time when you start to question things more," he said in that 2017 interview. "That happened to me six or seven years ago."

The timeline, however, doesn’t quite sync up with Rodgers’s involvement with Young Life and AIA. He was still publicly embracing Young Life just three years prior.

Accepting the AIA award in 2014, Rodgers said his Young Life mentor in high school “really taught me what John 10:10 really means and what it looks like to live that abundant life that Jesus talks about and I thank him for that.”

He also cited “some incredible Athletes in Action men and women I got to spend time with in college in Berkeley, and had some great memories with them.” He added, “I thank them for the influence on my life.”

Rodgers also cooperated with a cover story on him in the spring 2013 edition of Young Life magazine. In it he said, “I…enjoy supporting [Young Life] to this day.”

The magazine reported that Rodgers first met his future Young Life mentor in 1997, and their friendship began in 1998. (The article no longer appears on Young Life’s website, but a version of it was archived.)

“You have a faith that’s your parents’,” Rodgers told the magazine, “and you say the prayer to be saved, but at some point it’s got to be a personal relationship. To be honest with you, Young Life was a big part of that, because for the first time I saw how much fun Christians could have.”

There was hard work, too. He went with Young Life to Mexico to build homes there.

“[T]he Gospel was presented in a way that’s not over your head,” Rodgers said, “with analogies and demonstrations that made you think, ‘Jesus is someone I could really hang out with.’”

In college, the magazine reported, Rodgers was a Young Life junior leader, and “loved the process of learning the philosophy behind leading a Young Life club.”

It’s not clear whether his training meant that Rodgers knew about Young Life’s ban on LGBTQ+ volunteers. In an undated video posted by a Young Life club in 2016, Rodgers said he “had a lot of fun leading from the front. … taking some high schoolers to lunch, just being part of their lives.”

Rodgers said in the video that “Young Life is a great organization that has the right message. They present the gospel in a way that anybody can relate to, and to be able to see it modeled by the leaders who I was in contact with, I think, really made an impact on me.”

He said he had remained involved even as a pro. “We’ve done some great things with our local Young Life group back in Chico, [CA], and continue to support them and the Young Life out here actually in Green Bay, [WI].”

He was also still in touch with his Young Life mentor as of 2013. That was Matt Hock, who also spoke with Young Life’s magazine. Hock suggested that Rodgers was conscious of the platform his NFL role gave him.

“Aaron understands relationships and the platform Jesus has given him. He doesn’t always have to verbally proclaim he’s a follower of Jesus,” Hock said. “He really understands the platform he has right now and he uses it to bring life to people.”

And Hock was working to keep Rodgers in the fold. “My goal with Aaron is to keep trying to put Jesus in front of him. I send books and encouraging texts to him.”

Hock said that, “I just remind him he’s God’s beloved in the midst of people telling him he’s something or he’s not. My job is to keep reminding him of who he is in the eyes of Jesus.”

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Jonathan Larsen is an independent journalist and veteran reporter and TV news producer, having worked at MSNBC, CNN, and TYT. You can support his original reporting by becoming a subscriber.