A gay man's view on Harrison Butker
The NFL kicker's commencement speech was problematic in the best way

Steve Irwin was right.
Years ago I saw “The Crocodile Hunter” interviewed on CBC Television in Canada. He said something that’s made it easier to deal with people who made me feel unwelcome or threatened.
“Crocodiles are easy,” he said, “because they always want to kill and eat you. People are tough, because sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.”
That’s why Harrison Butker’s speech (which you can watch here) didn’t bother me. When crocodiles show their teeth, they’re doing you a favor.
This Super Bowl-winning NFL kicker might’ve gone down in history just for his record-setting shot: 57 yards on the field in Las Vegas, the longest successful kick in the championship’s history. Now his bio will include something much more divisive.
Butker has never made a secret of his devout Catholicism. He expressed his orthodox views in a commencement speech at Benedictine College, a Catholic institution in Kansas. Among other things, he encouraged women in the Class of 2024 to prize being a wife & mother above their careers. To be fair, he also congratulated them for completing their degrees and acknowledged they were eager to enter the workforce.
(Some critiques of his speech make it seem like he demanded women stay in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant. He neither said nor implied that.)
He also mocked an AP article exploring Catholic traditionalism today, saying Benedictine responded to it with pride. Butker quipped that it was “not the deadly sin of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true, God-centered pride”.
And he urged Catholics to leave Christian teachings to the priests and not try to become “amateur theologians, so that we can decipher this or that theological teaching… unless, of course, you are a theology major.”
The assembled crowd gave Butker a warm reception and a rousing ovation. Criticism came swiftly, including from officials in Kansas City, LGBTQ+ rights organizations and even the order of Catholic nuns that founded Benedictine’s predecessor. The NFL quickly distanced itself from his remarks.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with them. And I say that as a gay man.
Don’t misunderstand me: I do not agree with his views. They were judgmental and haughty, at times built on conspiracy theories and, in my view, occasionally out of keeping with Scripture. Still, if you’re gonna be a homophobe, don’t hem and haw about it. Don’t be hypocritical. Homophobes don’t want me to live openly, but they’re often too cowardly to openly say so.
Harrison Butker did us all an enormous favor: he said so, without flinching. Now we all know who we’re dealing with. Moments like these give our allies an opportunity to take action and uphold that alliance. I wish I didn’t need people to ride to my rescue, but what good is support that’s never shown? It’s comforting to see people who care about me fire back when I’m the target of intolerance. In a strange way, it makes me not feel so alone.
As for the religious condemnation, I support the First Amendment. It does indeed allow you to hate me. It does not, however, allow you to hurt me. You come for me, and I will damn well come back for you. Don’t dish it if you can’t take it… and the way I give it, you definitely cannot take it.
But staying hurt over what he said isn’t an option for me: destroying his argument is the best course of action. I can use his narrow view to expose his ignorance, and that can deepen our commitment to engage with people we don’t like. The trick is to attack the idea, not the individual.
I do that in my latest YouTube segment (embedded ⬇️ below).
Besides, who knows what would’ve happened if I’d met this guy under normal circumstances? We might get along just fine. One of the gifts of hosting 1A on NPR was having meaningful, transformative conversations with people whose views I don’t share but whose humanity made it easy to connect regardless. I treasure that.
Perhaps Harrison Butker has had those encounters, too. If not, then I hope someday he will. They might deepen his faith, and humble his heart, in ways he didn’t expect.
But God help him if he bares those teeth at me. Otherwise you might see me one day wearing some remarkably stylish shoes and ask, “Are those… crocodile skin?”
“Yep,” I’ll say. “Made ‘em myself.”