Happy Pride! 

 

Pride Month offers so many ways to celebrate and learn about the 2SLGBTQ+ community. If you live in Toronto, you can explore events here! If you’re not sure what the 2SLGBTQ+ acronym stands for, please click here for a glossary of terms.

 

Personally, I am so excited for Pride Month this year. It is the first year I will be publicly celebrating Pride since coming out during COVID. I am excited to celebrate with my friends and girlfriend, and to explore all the ways I can help educate those around me who are open to learning and becoming better allies. 

 

It is important to acknowledge that each person is on a unique journey when discovering their gender identity and sexual orientation. Support systems and community play such an important role in that journey, and I am grateful that I had many positive people surrounding me during my personal journey. One of the most impactful communities for me was the one I had through sport. 

 

I believe that sport has the power to promote inclusive, safe and respectful spaces for all people. I was fortunate to play for coaches who welcomed diversity and with teammates who embraced everyone regardless of their ethnicity, gender identity, religion or sexual orientation. My teammates were allies, or members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community themselves, and that made me feel comfortable to explore my own identity and step into an authentic version of myself when I felt ready. 

 

Allyship is incredibly important, especially in sport. But today I want to focus on representation. At Lead Thru Sport, we encourage and support all people (and particularly female identifying individuals) to participate in sport regardless of the level, and representation at all levels matters. That said, professional athletes have the largest stage and can have the widest impact. During Pride Month, I want to celebrate those folks who are champions of inclusive representation. 

 

Let's take a look at the world of soccer. 

 

For fantastic representation, look no further than the Canadian Women’s National Team. Quinn, a midfielder for Canada’s gold medal winning Olympic soccer team, made history as the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic gold medal! They publicly came out and started using gender-neutral pronouns in 2020 and are paving the way for transgender athletes to compete and succeed in sport. They said “I think it’s so critical to have more trans representation and to have more trans visibility.” Quinn was aware that their public status as a trans athlete would have an important impact on the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

 

Quinn is not the only one creating change in the soccer world. Megan Rapinoe is one of several female identifying professional soccer players who identifies as a lesbian, and is famous for the phrase “you can’t win a championships without gays on your team”. Megan was a World Cup gold medal winner with the US Women’s National Team and currently plays for OL Reign in the NWSL. On and off the pitch, Megan is a vocal advocate for the 2SLGBTQ+ community, equal pay, and racial justice. She is also a co-founder of the gender neutral lifestyle brand re-inc and authored One Life, an autobiography. You can read more about her here. 

 

Megan is also one half of a sports power couple. Her soon-to-be wife is WNBA star Sue Bird. Sue is a veteran in the WNBA, currently playing in her 19th (and possibly final) season with the Seattle Storm. Megan and Sue were the first openly gay couple to appear on the Body Issue of ESPN Magazine. But despite being out and proud as a couple today, their individual journeys as members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community were very different. Sue did not embrace her sexuality until much later in life and she credits Megan with helping her come out publicly. Sue eventually realized “It was important to say it, because the more people that come out, that’s where you get to the point where nobody has to come out. Where you can just live. And it’s not a story." Megan and Sue have also publicly documented their fertility journey, demonstrating how much representation matters beyond sport.  

 

Seeing these, and so many other, 2SLGBTQ+ athletes in the media, succeeding in business and fighting for social justice is inspiring. It opens up the space for individuals like myself, and future generations of athletes, to step proudly into the spotlight as our authentic selves. 

 

I recognize that if you are reading this, it is unlikely that you are a professional athlete with the same platform as Quinn, Megan or Sue. But that does not mean you can’t have a positive impact on others. By learning how to be an active ally, you are showing others that you support them as their authentic selves. You may be that one positive voice that allows someone to comfortably share their experience or have the courage to take the next step on their journey. So this Pride Month I encourage you to learn, celebrate and be yourself :) 

 

Written by: Sarah Saftich