Connect with us

Sports

Hudson Taylor: From athlete to ally

Hudson Taylor on his advocacy work — and the future for out athletes

Published

on

Hudson Taylor, Athlete Ally, gay news, Washington Blade

Hudson Taylor founded Athlete Ally in August 2010. (Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)

By ROBERT KLEMKO

Hudson Taylor, a former University of Maryland wrestler and current Columbia University assistant wrestling coach, saw the need in 2010 for a social advocacy group pushing for LGBT equality in sports. He founded Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization focused on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports, three years ago.

We caught up with Taylor and got his thoughts on the success of the organization and the future for out professional athletes.

 

ROBERT KLEMKO: When did Athlete Ally explode from your part-time pursuit to this nationally recognized organization?

HUDSON TAYLOR: We started Athlete Ally in August 2010. The first year-and-a-half to two years was pretty slow. We were growing at the college level quite a bit. But the real expansion came when Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo came on and we started getting more athletes getting involved last fall. After him, more and more athletes started lending their voice to LGBT acceptance in sports. In the NFL, Scott Fujita and Chris Kluwe came shortly after. Those are obviously three prominent voices in the NFL and for LGBT acceptance in sports.

FIND MORE OF THE WASHINGTON BLADE SPORTS ISSUE HERE.

KLEMKO: Did you recruit these guys, or did they come to you?

TAYLOR: We recruited the majority of the athletes we work with. We adopted a shotgun approach: If we have an athlete who speaks out for marriage equality or they have a relative who’s gay, we reach out and say ‘Are you interested in getting involved?’ For all the guys who’ve signed up we’ve gotten probably triple the amount of nos. We also got a ton of our athletes from Maryland connections; Kristi Tolliver, Robbie Rogers and D’Qwell Jackson included.

 

KLEMKO: Do you have a staff?

TAYLOR: Our board is very much a working board. We have 13 board members who are almost full time working on Athlete Ally. We’ve been very fortunate to have a very dedicated board. Then we have five interns and two college graduates that we’ve just hired, and we’ll be hiring more. What we’ve found is there are a lot of college kids who are eager to get involved.

 

KLEMKO: You went from recruiting the voices to becoming an authority on the topic. What’s the next step?

TAYLOR: When all of this started, I realized there’s never been a successful social advocacy group for the minority without the majority support. We knew we needed the voices. Now our next phase is really trending down to the K-12 age group. We’ve become the official partners of the NBA, working with their incoming players, and we have great reach in college, but the cycle starts far sooner than college. So when we think about these attitudes we need to start educating when they first pick up a baseball or a football.

 

KLEMKO: Where are you with the 18-and-under demographic?

TAYLOR: We haven’t made any partnerships with any school districts in a really major way. … Here’s the plan: We’re currently creating a curriculum to train college athletes to go back into their high schools and middle schools and train the younger generation. Those guys are going to have more impact than any of these guys could. There’s a certain amount of cultural capital that athletes have with the ability to change hearts and minds in these difficult environments.

 

KLEMKO: Who reaches out to you the most, personally?

TAYLOR: A lot of folks that I’ve known growing up have reached out to me because either they are closeted or they have friends or family who are closeted. It became clear that a huge number of people I’ve known are affected by homophobia in sports. There have been closeted professional athletes who have reached out, but we’re still at the very beginning… there’s still a lot of fear and uncertainty for the closeted gay athlete.

 

KLEMKO: For the athlete who wants to help, but doesn’t want to attach his name to Athlete Ally, what’s your advice?

TAYLOR: The biggest question is, how do we explicitly go about creating an inclusive environment to everyone? Joining Athlete Ally is on one end of the spectrum, but you can also as an athlete pick five words in your life to eliminate. Say something to a teammate next time you hear an anti-gay word in the locker room. That’s a start.

 

KLEMKO: Is the bigger obstacle for your mission in the front offices, or in the locker rooms?

TAYLOR: I think it’s really difficult to make an overarching statement about that. No two experiences are exactly alike. Fears and apprehension that one closeted athlete has can be completely different from another. That said, the average NBA career is 4.7 years. It’s even shorter for NFL players. So if coming out is going to hurt an athlete’s belief that they can make a team and stay in the league, that’s an obstacle. On the other hand, you can have a really supportive owner or franchise but if you’re on a team that is using anti-gay language every day, a closeted athlete is not going to feel safe to come out in that space.

 

KLEMKO: Jason Collins popped the NBA’s cherry. How do we get the ball rolling in the NFL?

TAYLOR: Until we have a critical mass of athletes speaking out, you’re not going to see more athletes coming out. Some of the most vocal athletes have been NFL players, but when you look at how many guys have spoken out, it’s still a very small percentage. Were going to need more players, coaches and owners speaking out for real change to happen.

Robert Klemko is a University of Maryland graduate and a writer for TheMMQB.com, Sports Illustrated magazine’s online NFL destination by Peter King.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Sports

Transgender nonbinary sprinter Nikki Hiltz makes Team USA

‘Woke up an Olympian’

Published

on

(Screenshot)

They ran like the wind, broke the tape at the finish line, and clutched their chest with the broadest smile on their face. Then Nikki Hiltz collapsed to the track, having set a new record in the 1,500-meter race at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and earned a spot on Team USA. 

As the realization sank in that they would be representing the U.S. in Paris as an out transgender nonbinary athlete, what the Paris-bound Olympian did next was to scribble a message of LGBTQ representation on the last day of Pride Month, writing with a red marker upon the glass of the camera that records each athlete’s signature on a whiteboard: 

“I ❤️ the gays,” they wrote, and above it, they signed their first name. 

Hiltz, 29, finished the race on Sunday at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in first-place with a final time of 3:55:33, breaking third-place finisher Elle St. Pierre’s 2021 record of 3:58:03. 

Hiltz credited St. Pierre, the top-finishing American and third-place finisher in the women’s 1,500 at the Tokyo Olympics, with motivated them and the other competitors to race faster. With a first lap time of 61 seconds, St. Pierre led the race for the majority of its duration. St. Pierre and Emily Mackay, who placed second, also both earned spots in the Paris Olympics.

“If someone would have told me this morning that 3:56 doesn’t make the team, I don’t want to know that. I’m just in the race to run it and race it and that’s what I did,” Hiltz said after the race. The Santa Cruz native who came out in 2021 as trans nonbinary told NBC Sports that the accomplishment is “bigger than just me.”

“I wanted to run this for my community,” Hiltz said, “All of the LGBT folks, yeah, you guys brought me home that last hundred. I could just feel the love and support.” 

On Monday, Hiltz reflected on the race and how they became an Olympian in a post on Instagram.

“Woke up an Olympian. 🥹 Yesterday afternoon in Eugene Oregon a childhood dream of mine came true. I’m not sure when this will fully sink in … All I know is today I’m waking up just so grateful for my people, overwhelmed by all the love and support, and filled with joy that I get to race people I deeply love and respect around a track for a living. 🙏”

Hiltz also shared a photo with their girlfriend, runner Emma Gee, and captioned it: “Remember in Inside Out 2 when Joy says “maybe this is what happens when you grow up … you feel less joy”? Yeah I actually have no idea what she’s talking about. 🎈🌈🤠🦅🥐🇫🇷”

They shared photos in their new Team USA garb, too. 

While they will be the first out trans nonbinary member of the U.S. track and field team, Hiltz will not be the first nonbinary Olympian. That honor goes to Quinn, who played soccer for Canada in Tokyo and holds the record as the only nonbinary athlete to have won a gold medal. So far. 

Many of the posts by Hiltz, Team USA and others have been trolled by bigots and ignoramuses who have mistaken them for a trans woman who was presumed to be male at birth and transitioned genders. Right-wing outlets and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines have commented on their victory and questioned their gender identity and decision to compete against cisgender women. 

But in the spirit of the late Marsha P. Johnson, who famously said the “P” stood for “pay no mind” to the haters, Hiltz shared a photo of a handwritten motivational note to themself, which ends: “I saw a quote online the other week that said, ‘respect everybody, fear nobody,’ and that’s exactly how I’m going to approach this final. I can do this.” 

And they did. 

Continue Reading

Sports

Every MLB team except this one celebrated Pride

Right-wingers react to ‘backlash’ against Rangers: ‘Bullying is unacceptable’

Published

on

Once again, the Texas Rangers opted not to celebrate Pride last month with a dedicated day or night on its 2024 promotion schedule. And once again, the American League West team is the only Major League operation to do so. 

This repeated omission by the reigning World Series champs has sparked what one conservative news site calls a “ridiculous backlash.” As the Washington Examiner’s Kimberly Ross wrote this week:

“There is no getting away from these ubiquitous celebrations. Instead of ‘to each his own,’ major league teams are nearly required to give in and perform in an effort to placate the loudest crowds. It’s not good enough to include everyone at all times. You must kowtow or else. This kind of bullying is unacceptable, and it’s worth pushing back against whether you’re a regular citizen or the 2023 World Series champion Texas Rangers.”

But the only evidence of the “backlash” was a balanced report by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press that appeared on the website of KSAT-TV in San Antonio, detailing the frustrations of local LGBTQ advocates and fans. His report was posted by the AP under the headline: “Why are the Texas Rangers the only MLB team without a Pride Night?” The virulently anti-trans British tabloid, the Daily Mail rehashed that same AP piece but added that LGBTQ groups were “FURIOUS” without substantiating that claim with a single quote. 

At most, DeeJay Johannessen, chief executive of the HELP Center, an LGBTQ organization based in Tarrant County, where the Rangers play, told the AP he felt “kind of embarrassed.” The Daily Mail headline writer was apparently “kind of” clickbaiting. 

“It’s kind of an embarrassment to the city of Arlington that their team is the only one that doesn’t have a Pride night,” Johannessen said. Local advocate Rafael McDonnell said, “It pains me that this remains an issue [after] all these years.”

How painful? McDonnell told the AP he considered not attending the championship parade with his boyfriend when the Rangers celebrated their first World Series championship last fall. Ultimately, he decided to go. So much for “FURIOUS.” 

McDonnell is the communications and advocacy manager for the Resource Center, which is an organization that grew out of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. He added that his group has worked with the Rangers, at their invitation, to help them develop a policy of inclusion, starting about five years ago.

The team has sent employees to volunteer for programs supporting its efforts in advocating for marriage equality and transgender rights.

Although McDonnell said members of the Rangers staff keep in contact with him, he told the AP he can’t recall any conversations with the team since its five-game victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in last year’s World Series. 

“For a long time, I’ve thought that it might be somebody very high up in the organization who is opposed to this for some reason that is not clearly articulated,” McDonnell said. “To say that the Rangers aren’t doing anything for the community, well, they have. But the hill that they are choosing to stake themselves out on is no Pride night.”

The Rangers did celebrate Mexican heritage during a game last month, and also host nights throughout the season dedicated to other groups as well as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, first responders, teachers, and the military. The team also recognizes universities from around the Dallas-Fort Worth area and other parts of the Lone Star State. But not Pride. 

Why? The Rangers issued a statement, very similar to one from 2023. It lists various organizations the team has sponsored and steps it has taken internally to “create a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive environment for fans and employees.”

“Our longstanding commitment remains the same: To make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball — in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do — for both our fans and our employees,” the team said. “We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire community.”

“I think it’s a private organization,” said Rangers fan Will Davis. “And if they don’t want to have it, I don’t think they should be forced to have it.” Davis is from Marble Falls, about 200 miles southwest of the stadium in Central Texas and attended a recent game with his son’s youth baseball team.

“I think if it were something where MLB said, ‘We’re not participating in this,’ but the MLB does participate in it. And the Rangers have chosen not to,” said Rangers fan Misty Lockhart, who lives near told the ballpark. Lockhart told the AP she attends almost three dozen games every season. “I think that’s where I take the bigger issue, is they have actively chosen not to participate in it.”

While Lockhart says she doesn’t see Pride night as a political issue, she suggested there would be more pressure on the Rangers if their stadium was downtown, in the heart of Dallas County, where the majority of elected officials are Democrats. Tarrant County, home to Arlington, Fort Worth and Global Life Stadium, is generally more conservative, just like the governor, lieutenant governor, legislature, and fans like Will Davis. 

“In something like this, this is a way for people to go as a state,” Davis told the AP. “We don’t want the political stuff shoved down our throats one way or the other, left or right. We’re coming out here to have a good time with friends or family and let it be.”

Unfortunately, some Rangers fans decided they could not “let it be” the one time the team welcomed local LGBTQ groups to a game as part of a fundraising event, as it does for other groups. This was in September 2003, two years after the Chicago Cubs hosted what is considered the first-ever Pride game. At that time, Rangers fans raged about the invitation on a website, and showed up to protest outside the stadium before that game. 

The Rangers never extended that invitation again. 

Continue Reading

Sports

Haters troll official Olympics Instagram for celebrating gay athlete and boyfriend

Campbell Harrison clapped back at online trolls

Published

on

(Screenshot from Instagram)

Olympian Campbell Harrison has already conquered an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, and disappointment for skipping the Tokyo Summer Games so he could support his older sister in her battle with cancer. 

So, he’s saying “no wucka’s” (meaning, “no problem” in Aussie lingo) to the bigots, trolls, mongrels, and “drongos” (meaning, “dicks” and “fools,” respectively) who plastered their disapproval in the comments of an Instagram post celebrating him as the first LGBTQ sport climber in Olympic history. 

The post wasn’t even his; the official Olympics Instagram account shared pictures from his qualifying climb from November 2023, and tagged Harrison earlier this week. 

“Celebration kiss for the ages 😘🌈” reads the caption. “After not making it to Tokyo 2020, Australian sport climber Campbell Harrison did not give up and four years later secured a quota spot for the Olympic Games #Paris2024. It was an emotional victory celebrated together with his partner, Justin.”

Harrison, having seen the negative comments multiply, took them in stride with a snappy response that included a tag to his boyfriend, Justin Maire, whose account is private.  

“All these people mad cause we’re hotter than they are 😘,” Harrison wrote. 

Harrison’s mother, Yvette, shared her support: “I could not be more proud of you my beautiful son. You and Justin are such a beautiful couple and we love you both very much. 🏳️‍🌈🙌❤️”

There were plenty of other supportive comments, and haters were called out, too: “I love all the people following the @Olympics page due to the Olympic spirit (among other values), who don’t see the irony of bashing an Olympic athlete because of who they love,” wrote out travel writer and LGBTQ rights advocate Mikah Meyer.

The person managing the official Olympics Instagram account was asked to do a better job curating the comments, which were largely vitriolic and cruel. The account posted this plea: “Let’s keep our community positive ❤️ Please ensure your comments are respectful and avoid any language that could be offensive, or harmful to others. We reserve the right to remove comments that do not adhere to this guideline.” 

Gay Olympic champion diver Matthew Mitcham commented: “15 years ago I kissed my partner on camera when I won in Beijing 2008. This one post by @olympics has received more hate than I did in my whole career.” 

Today is Harrison’s 28th birthday. He, his boyfriend and his mother recently spoke with Climbings Holly Yu Tung Chen. She wrote: 

“Campbell arrived in the world on June 28, 1997, screaming inconsolably. Unlike his three other siblings, who were all ‘peaches and cream,’ said Yvette, baby Campbell was “squishy and cuddly, yes — but he had a lot to say from the word go.”

“Campbell started climbing at age eight when Russell took the children to the Victorian Climbing Centre and noticed Campbell’s immediate vigor. It’s the age-old climber tale: Campbell almost immediately lost interest in the other sports he dabbled in, including swimming, soccer, and track and field. All he wanted to do was climb.”

Harrison told Climbing although he never actually “came out” as gay, he never hid his sexuality, and simply made sure his parents and siblings knew who he was. For example, when he told the family he’d be joining Climbing Cuties, an affinity group for queer climbers, they told him to have fun. On another occasion, Harrison let them know he’d be taking part in a panel for queer climbers, and his parents asked if they could attend. 

As for his boyfriend, Harrison told Climbing they met cute. 

“In the age where most people meet online, we had the classic story of catching each other’s eye from across the room,” said Harrison. Maire told the reporter he recognized Campbell from social media, where the climber does not hide their relationship, and that often results in comments that his posts have “gotten too political.”

“How is that political?” he asked, rhetorically, noting that most of the hateful comments he receives online come from Americans. “Why should I change the way I feel just because of someone else’s perception of me?” he said. 

Last November, the only climber to top the men’s finals route during the IFSC Oceania Qualifier in Melbourne was Harrison. Watching him ascend were his parents and boyfriend, as he clipped the final draw and collapsed inward, his hands covering his face as he was lowered down. He had punched his ticket to Paris with this win. 

Once he was on the ground, Harrison made a beeline to Maire, where they hugged and kissed, as recorded on Instagram.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular