Athlete Ally Action Awards to Honor Gotham FC’s Imani Dorsey
April 25, 2022 (New York, NY) – Today, Athlete Ally announced that National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Gotham FC player and Athlete Ally Ambassador Imani Dorsey 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.
Imani Dorsey was selected by Gotham FC (then called Sky Blue FC) in 2018. That same year, she was named the 2018 NWSL Rookie of the Year. Before joining Gotham FC, she played for the Washington Spirit Reserves in the W-League, helping her team win the 2015 W-League Championships and earning the honor of W-League Rookie of the Year. Imani played for Duke University from 2014-2017, where she ranked fourth all time in career goals. Imani received her first senior call-up to the United States national team in 2019. Imani is also a board member for the Black Women’s Player Collective, whose mission is to lift the image, value and representation of Black women as athletes and leaders.
Imani has supported Athlete Ally through Playing for Pride, and in 2019 officially joined as an Athlete Ally Ambassador. She authored an article for the Athlete Ally website titled “Becoming the Norm” about her experiences as a woman in sport and her support for transgender athletes. Since joining, Imani has signed onto numerous amicus briefs in support of transgender athletes, recorded video content talking about her journey as an ally for Athlete Ally’s Trans Inclusion training, and collaborated with Athlete Ally to lead her team in developing a video in support of transgender youth which aired during the team’s 2021 Pride game. Also in 2021, Imani presented an Athlete Ally Action Award to the Washington University in St. Louis Campus Chapter.
“Imani has consistently been a powerful, compelling driving force for LGBTQI+ inclusion in sport, and especially for allyship and support for transgender athletes,” said Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally. “She has never hesitated to use her platform to speak out, to sign onto open letters and amicus briefs, and to encourage her fellow athletes and fans to make sport a safe and inclusive space for all. We are incredibly proud to call Imani an Athlete Ally Ambassador, and honored to present her with an Athlete Ally Action Award.”
“I’m honored to receive an Athlete Ally Action Award. I’m proud to be an Athlete Ally Ambassador and to work together to advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality,” said Imani Dorsey. “Especially given the onslaught of legislation targeting transgender women in sports, I’m dedicated to using my platform to champion a safe and inclusive athletic environment for all.”
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.