Bi NFL Player R.K. Russell to be Honored at Athlete Ally Action Awards
August 13, 2024 (New York, NY) – Today, Athlete Ally announced that R.K. Russell, an author, activist and the first out bisexual NFL player, will be honored at the 2024 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 Action Awards will be held on Thursday, October 17th at 6pm EST in New York City. Additional honorees include Olympian Nikki Hiltz and the Tufts Athlete Ally Campus Chapter.
In August of 2019, Russell made history by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual. A decorated defensive end who has played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he has sacked Hall of Famers and gone up against the fiercest competitors at the height of their game. Since coming out, he has written about his experience as a Black queer man in sports for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Out Magazine, and Queer Majority, among others.
Russell has been advocating for the LGBTQ+ community in professional sports, spearheading multiple NFL Pride initiatives such as the NFL Pride panel and the NFL’s National Coming Out Day PSA. He has been honored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) by GAY TIMES (U.K.) as Sportsperson of the Year, and he was selected to the prestigious OUT 100 List in 2019. His short documentary, Finding Free, was nominated for best short documentary at the 43rd Annual Sports Emmys and won awards at the 2022 Webby Awards, the 60th New York Film Festival, and the 43rd Annual Telly Awards. His new memoir, The Yards Between Us, is available everywhere books are sold. He lives in Los Angeles.
“There are so few out athletes in men’s professional sports, and even fewer who openly identify as bisexual,” said Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally. “R.K. powerfully living his truth on and off the field is a gamechanger for professional football players and fans, and for bisexual athletes everywhere who all too often find themselves erased. We are incredibly proud to present him with an Athlete Ally Action Award.”
“Being recognized as a 2024 Athlete Ally Action Awards Honoree is not just about personal achievement; it’s a celebration of visibility, courage, and the collective progress we’re making together,” said R.K. Russell. “I am proud to stand for inclusivity and to inspire future generations of athletes to embrace their true selves.”
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 2024 Athlete Ally Action awards are made possible due to generous support from Gillette, the National Basketball Association (NBA), TransPerfect, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Gatorade and Dow in addition to individual supporters and other corporate support.