Name: Harvey Van Blerkom

Social Justice Group: Sports and Equality

Date of Fieldwork: November 17, 2017

Name of Organization: Athlete Ally

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Allison Grover, Board member

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We interviewed Allison Grover, a board member for athlete ally. We asked her about what athlete ally is doing in the fight for equality in sports.

What I learned:

I learned that Athlete Ally is a non-profit organization founded by Hudson Taylor. I also learned that Hudson Taylor teaches all incoming NBA players about trans and homophobia in sports.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

I learned that the issue of Equality in sports is very big and that there are many layers to it. This is shown because, from the start, you know that there are many different issues in the sports world, such as transgender policies, transphobia, and homophobia. As I’ve shown, there are multiple issues that can affect the same minority group in sports. Transgender people are affected by both the policies in their leagues that relate to transgender athletes, but also they can be affected by slurs by transphobic fans.