Hate Is Wrong began as a saying in the 1990s. While playing in the NFL as a closeted gay man, Esera Tuaolo cut short acts of discrimination around him by standing up and saying, “Hate in any form is wrong.” By the early 2000s, Esera came out as gay and began advocating for inclusion across the United States by speaking at corporations, colleges, and high schools, as well as popular television programs like The Oprah Show and Ellen. He referred to his work as the Hate In Any Form Is Wrong campaign. Over a decade later, in November 2017, the Hate In Any Form Is Wrong campaign turned into a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization titled Hate Is Wrong.
Hate Is Wrong’s purpose is to foster diversity in sports and anti-bullying education among youth. It carries out this purpose in two ways. It helps deliver inclusion-based education across the country, including the Super Bowl Inclusion Panel, and it throws the Super Bowl Inclusion Party.
The Super Bowl Inclusion Party and the Super Bowl Inclusion Panel are two of Hate Is Wrong’s biggest events. Their purpose is to foster diversity and inclusion—especially LGBT inclusion—in the National Football League (“NFL”) and, through the popularity of the NFL, to foster diversity and inclusion in the society as a whole.
These events are especially needed today. LGBT diversity in the NFL has remained extraordinarily low. The NFL was founded in 1920. During almost a century of its existence, there have been only twelve known gay NFL players: David Kopay, Jerry Smith, Roy Simmons, Ray McDonald, Esera Tuaolo, Kwame Harris, Ryan O’Callaghan, Wade Davis, Dorien Bryant, Brad Thorson, Michael Sam, and Jeff Rohrer.
Undoubtedly, these are not the only gay players. They are merely the players who eventually became open with their sexuality. Many more existed, and many currently play while feeling forced to hide who they truly are.
Hate Is Wrong holds the Super Bowl Inclusion Party and the Super Bowl Inclusion Panel to tackle such lack of diversity, and to improve the environment of LGBT individuals in sports.