NEW ORLEANS – Drew Brees has responded to criticism of a promo he filmed for Focus on Family.
The future hall of fame New Orleans Saints quarterback recorded a video for Focus on the Family’s upcoming “Bring Your Bible to School Day.”
“Hey guys, Drew Brees here,” Brees says in the promo. “One of my favorite verses in the bible is 2 Corinthians 5:7 ‘For we live by faith, not by sight,’ so I want to encourage you to live out your faith on Bring Your Bible to School Day, and share God’s love with friends. You’re not alone.”
Online backlash centered on Focus on the Family’s history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy and publicized fight against marriage equality soon spread, with LGBTQ activists and Saints fans expressing their disappointment in Brees’ choice to team up with Focus on the Family.
This criticism, Brees said in a video he released this afternoon, is wholly unfounded.
“There’s been a lot of negativity spread about me in the LGBTQ community recently based upon an article that someone wrote with a very negative headline that I think lead people to believe that somehow I was aligned with an organization that was anti-LGBTQ, and so on and so forth,” Brees said. “I’d like to set the record straight. I live by two very simple Christian fundamentals, and that is: Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Following those rules, Brees said he treats all people equally regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or political beliefs.
“The fact that these rumors have been spread about me, are completely untrue,” Brees said. “What I did was I filmed a video recently that was encouraging kids to bring their Bibles to school for National Bring Your Bible to School Day. To bring your Bibles to school. To be able to live out your faith with confidence, and I even gave one of my favorite Bible verses. It was as simple as that.”
The annual Bring Your Bible to School event was founded by Focus on the Family, and is designed “to express your belief in the truth of God’s Word–and to do so in a respectful way that demonstrates the love of Christ,” according to BringYourBible.org.
“I’m not sure why the negativity spread, or why people tried to rope me into certain negativity,” Brees said. “I do not support any groups that discriminate, or that have their own agendas that are trying to promote inequality. Hopefully that has set the record straight, and we can all move on, because that is not what I stand for.”
Bring Your Bible to School Day is scheduled for October 3.