Athlete Ally Action Awards to Honor CeCé Telfer
September 13, 2022 – Today, Athlete Ally announced that athlete, advocate and model CeCé Telfer will be honored at the Eighth Annual Athlete Ally Action Awards. Athlete Ally is a nonprofit organization focused on fostering inclusive athletic environments and mobilizing the athletic community to champion LGBTQI+ equality. The awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday, October 25th at 7:00pm EST at the Edison Ballroom in New York City. Additional honorees include NWSL Gotham FC player and Athlete Ally Ambassador Imani Dorsey.
CeCé Telfer is a Jamaican-American athlete who, in June 2019, became the first openly transgender woman to win a NCAA title. Telfer became a NCAA National Champion in the 400-meter hurdles event which put her on the trajectory of becoming a U.S. Olympic hopeful for the Tokyo Olympics 2021 and the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024. Telfer also competes in the 60M, 100M and 200M. In June 2021, Telfer qualified for the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials | Track & Field in the 100M & 400-meter hurdles.
Following her victory in the 400-meter hurdles, Telfer appeared on ESPN’s Outside the Lines on June 13, 2019. CeCe has appeared on multiple national media outlets and campaigns capturing global attention in Olympic sports, the LGBTQ community, along with world-renowned professional athletes and Olympians, including The New York Times, ESPN, CBS and Forbes. CeCé has collaborated with Athlete Ally on events and panels to honor Pride and Transgender Day of Visibility, and to amplify the voices of transgender athletes.
“My best advice to the young transgender and nonbinary athletes out there is [to] never give up,” CeCé told FOLX. “There is absolutely a place for you.”
“CeCé Telfer is a champion for equality and inclusion, working tirelessly for equity in sport against all odds,” said Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally. “Just like our broader movement, progress in LGBTQI+ athletic inclusion is happening because of Black and Brown transgender and nonbinary athletes such as CeCé who are leading the way forward. We are honored to present her with an Athlete Ally Action Award in recognition of her leadership and her advocacy.”
“I’m thrilled to accept this honor from Athlete Ally,” said CeCé Telfer. “The fight for Black and Brown transgender and nonbinary athletes to be seen in all parts of society, but especially sports, has been a harrowing one. I’m grateful for our collaborative work to break down barriers so that all athletes have a space in the sport they love.”
To learn more or purchase tickets to the Awards, click here.
About Athlete Ally and the Action Awards
Athlete Ally believes sport will change the world when it welcomes and empowers all people. As a leading national nonprofit working at the intersection of sport and LGBTQI+ equality, Athlete Ally works to end the structural and systemic oppression that isolates, excludes and endangers LGBTQI+ people in sport. We educate individuals and institutions to understand obstacles to inclusion for LGBTQI+ people and how they can build an inclusive culture within their athletic communities. We work to ensure sport governing bodies, teams and leagues adopt policies that reflect the diversity of their constituents. We incubate athlete activism to advance LGBTQI+ equality in and through sport.
The Eighth Annual Athlete Ally Action awards are made possible due to generous support from this year’s Award Sponsor, Gillette, in addition to other corporate supporters including Adidas, Nike, Gatorade, Constellation Brands, the NBA/WNBA, TransPerfect, and Major League Soccer. The generous philanthropy of our dedicated Host Committees and Board of Directors also make this event possible.