Athlete Ally Action Awards to Honor Olympic Gold Medalist Quinn
August 31, 2021 (New York, NY) – Today, Athlete Ally announced that Quinn – the first openly transgender and non-binary athlete to compete at the Olympics, win an Olympic medal and win Olympic gold, and an Athlete Ally Ambassador – will be honored at the Seventh 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, which will also commemorate Athlete Ally’s 10 year anniversary, will be shifting to a virtual format, taking place on October 26th at 7:30pm EST.
Quinn is a professional soccer player for Canada’s National Team and for OL Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League, in addition to being an Athlete Ally Ambassador and a Playing for Pride supporter. This summer, Quinn made history as the first-ever openly transgender and non-binary athlete to compete at the Olympics, the first to medal, and the first to earn a gold medal.
As a college athlete at Duke University, Quinn served on the executive board of their school’s Athlete Ally Campus Chapter, and helped organize their team’s first Pride Game. In 2018, Quinn was selected by the Washington Spirit in the NWSL College Draft, making them the highest drafted Canadian in NWSL history. They went on to play with Paris FC and Sweden’s Vittsjö, in addition to playing for their current team, OL Reign. Quinn has also represented Canada on the senior, under-23 under-20 and under-17 national teams.
Quinn has used their platform to speak out for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport and society as a whole, including speaking out against the rising tide of anti-transgender athlete bills targeting youth in the U.S.
“From their days organizing teammates to champion LGBTQ+ equality on Duke’s campus to standing on the Olympic podium as the first-ever openly transgender and non-binary Olympic Gold medalist, Quinn has shown the world what authenticity and athlete activism look like,” said Hudson Taylor, executive director of Athlete Ally. “Thanks to them, transgender and non-binary youth across the globe see themselves represented at the highest level of sport, and know that they absolutely can make their dreams come true.”
“I’m honored to accept an Action Award from Athlete Ally,” said Quinn. “Since my days as a college athlete, Athlete Ally has been a powerful partner fighting for all LGBTQ+ people to have a place in sports. I’m excited to see the strides we’ve made, and to know that we’ll continue to work together to make sure no one has to choose between being who they are and playing 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 LGBTQ 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 Seventh Annual Athlete Ally Action awards are made possible due to generous support from the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Soccer, TransPerfect, Citi, Gatorade and the United States Tennis Association (USTA), in addition to individual supporters and other corporate support.