In 2017, Major League Soccer Player Austin da Luz saw the LGBTQ community in his state come under attack, and started Playing for Pride as a way for professional soccer players to show their support for LGBTQ inclusion in and through sport. In the years since, Playing for Pride has mobilized athletes across sports, teams, leagues, sport reporters and fans to support LGBTQI+ inclusion in and through sport.
This Pride, we are increasingly alarmed at the ways white supremacy and systemic racial injustice are murdering innocent black lives. We would not have Pride or the LGBTQ+ advocacy movement without black and brown activists on the frontlines against police brutality. Our advocacy must be intersectional, and must go beyond words to action.
This year, Athlete Ally will donate 50% of all proceeds raised through Playing for Pride to the Audre Lorde Project (ALP), a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area.
Proceeds to Athlete Ally will go towards expanding our free online LGBTQI+ trainings for coaches, our research on inclusive athletic spaces, and our work advocating for the rights of all athletes to play the sports they love. We hope you'll join us in Playing for Pride.
