Do we like Patrick Mahomes?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record and real charity work, no harmful words or acts of his own turned up, but he has said little for LGBTQ+ people either way.
Mahomes is the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and a Texas Tech product, a kid who has said he realised how fortunate he was to get the opportunities he had when he was young. That line explains a lot about how he has used his fame: he says he wants to give kids the same chances, no matter where they come from.
The harm check is where he's most interesting. When teammate Harrison Butker's commencement speech blew up in 2024, Mahomes called him a good person but said there were things Butker said that he didn't agree with. That's a polite hedge rather than a stand, so we're not handing out a gold star, but it isn't an endorsement of the speech either.
On politics he stays in the pocket. In 2024 he declined to back either Trump or Harris, saying he didn't want his platform used to endorse a candidate, and that his place was to get people registered to vote. When Sen. Tommy Tuberville claimed he'd recruited him to Texas Tech, Mahomes told the Philadelphia Inquirer he didn't, so he doesn't let politicians borrow his name.
The one live legal matter is a business squabble, not a conduct one. In February 2026 a sneaker company called 1587 Sneakers sued Mahomes, Travis Kelce and their partners over the name of their 1587 Prime steakhouse, alleging trademark confusion. It's only an allegation, the report carried no response from the defendants, and we found no ruling.
The good stuff is real. His 15 and the Mahomies Foundation held its first gala in 2019, raised more than $600,000 and handed 15 grants of $15,000 to Kansas City youth charities. After George Floyd's death in 2020 he appeared in a player video and kept pushing voter registration.
Nothing new on him lately that bears on either test, and we found no harmful words, conspiracy slides or dodgy company in what we read. The honest gap is that he's a quiet ally at best on LGBTQ+ issues: we found nothing from him either way. That's a lean-yes rather than a roar.