Trey McBride is an NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals. He has two moms.
Forge is a young Buffalo Bills fan. He has two dads.
The two recently connected in a jersey gifting that may have been the only moment any NFC player has been able to break through the Bills Mafia.
Forge, who is the son of the online Rainbow Dads, posted a video about his two dads. McBride at some point reached out to Forge, with the connection of having same-sex parents.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Our weekly playbook is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
The result has played out on Instagram and TikTok, as Forge and his dads shared receiving some items from McBride, including a jersey for No. 85.
“It’s literally his first jersey that’s not a Bills jersey,” Papa Forge told Outsports.
As one of the Rainbow Dads said in a video, McBride sent a supportive message along with his No. 85 Cardinals jersey.
“Forge, follow your dreams. The world is yours,” McBride is quoted in the video.
Everyone in the Bills family was blown away.
“He signed it, and he signed a pair of gloves and a hat and sent it to us,” Papa Forge said. “And we realized Forge was going to flip. We didn’t realize there was a note on the back until Forge was wearing the jersey.”
Forge begged his dad to stop reading the message, as he was about to cry.
And we’re tearing up with him.
As Forge was about to open the package, he said, “This is my first non-Bills jersey.” He knew what was coming, and it only enhanced the moment.
The beautiful exchange speaks to the power of the LGBTQ community as a connector. A Bills fan can wear the jersey of a Cardinals player because they have a connection, having same-sex parents.
To be sure… the Cardinals never beat the Bills in a Super Bowl.
If McBride were with the Dallas Cowboys, that might be an entirely other issue.
Still, it doesn’t mean these lifelong Bills fans would cheer for the Cardinals to win a Buffalo-Arizona Super Bowl.
The power of the LGBTQ community to make connections across sports resonates loudly with this jersey exchange. McBride’s power of reaching out also can’t be under-stated. Players are pushed to engage the local community. That he’d be willing to engage fans of another NFL team thousands of miles away, simply because of the presence of same-sex parents, is powerful.
“I hope it’s 49-7,” Papa Forge said in hopes of a Buffalo Super Bowl title, “and Trey gets a touchdown.”
McBride played college football for the Colorado State Rams. In 2021 he won the John Mackey Award as college football’s best tight end, and he was a unanimous All-American.
In 2022, he was the 55th overall pick in the NFL Draft, selected in the second round by the Arizona Cardinals.
In his two NFL seasons, he’s gained over 1,000 yards and scored four touchdowns.
Yet this score may have been the most important of all.
