Mirror Memoirs and Athlete Ally to Partner on Anti-Sexual Violence Athlete Storytelling
April 1, 2021 (New York, NY) — Today, Mirror Memoirs and Athlete Ally announced their partnership to educate the anti-sexual violence and youth sports worlds about the needs and experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming youth. This partnership will be funded in part by RALIANCE, a national partnership dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation.
Mirror Memoirs is a national storytelling and organizing project uplifting the narratives, healing and leadership of Black, Indigenous and of color Two Spirit, transgender, intersex, non-binary and/or queer child sexual abuse survivors in the movement to end rape culture. RALIANCE’s grant will support Mirror Memoirs’ partnership with Athlete Ally that aims to educate the anti-sexual violence and youth sports worlds about the needs and experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming youth.
“Sports have the power to help young people build resilience and heal from trauma. Mirror Memoirs looks forward to working with RALIANCE and Athlete Ally to build a public education campaign to protect transgender and gender non-conforming youth in athletic spaces and beyond,” said Amita Swadhin, Mirror Memoirs Founding Co-Director.
“We are honored to partner with Mirror Memoirs on this critical work to lift up the lived experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming youth in sports, and to advocate for athletic spaces that model inclusion, safety and support for survivors,” said Joanna Hoffman, Director of Communications at Athlete Ally.
Other recipients of this year’s RALIANCE grant include Hollaback!, the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, USA Gymnastics, and the Ya Basta Center.
“RALIANCE is proud to support this diverse group of exceptional grant recipients, funding their work to meet the specific needs of survivors and impacted populations wherever they are in their communities and journeys. The critical work to end sexual violence cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach, and we are honored to continue our tradition of empowering organizations across this country that are implementing targeted and innovative programs to change the culture from the grassroots up,” said Sandra Henriquez, Managing Partner at RALIANCE.
About Mirror Memoirs
Founded in 2016, Mirror Memoirs is a national storytelling and organizing project uplifting the narratives, healing and leadership of Black, Indigenous and of color Two Spirit, transgender, intersex, non-binary and/or queer (QTIBIPOC) child sexual abuse survivors in the movement to end rape culture. Their work is entirely led by people from their membership, using an abolitionist, intersectional and intergenerational praxis and building from the long legacies of healing justice, transformative justice and disability justice practices shaped by oppressed communities in the United States. Mirror Memoirs’ programming stems from their initial audio archive, a collection of 60 stories from QTIBIPOC survivors across 15 states, due to be released publicly throughout 2022. For more information, follow us on Instagram (@mirror.memoirs) or Twitter (@mirrormemoirs).
About Athlete Ally
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. For more information, visit https://www.athleteally.org/ or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.