Name: Kate Borows-Lai

Social Justice Group: Sports and Equality

Date of Fieldwork: December 5, 2017

Name of Organization: Athlete Ally

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Hudson Taylor

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We interviewed Athlete Ally founder Hudson Taylor. He talked to us about what he does for his job, and what inspired him to be an advocate for equality in sports.

What I learned:

I learned that publicity is a very important part of the fight for equality in sports. Most of the most famous athletes are men, which doesn’t give others a chance to advocate for themselves. Mr. Taylor told us that people usually don’t advocate for groups that they themselves aren’t a part of. If we presume that this is true, then it would seem impossible for minorities in sports to get a word in edgewise.

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

However, that’s where people like Mr. Taylor come in. He is a straight, white man campaigning for LGBTQ rights and women’s rights in sports. We thought that was pretty amazing! He began this fight when he was a young wrestler. He overheard his teammates using homophobic slurs and saying things such as “you fight like a girl.” Even though he wasn’t a part of these groups, he knew that these weren’t okay things to be saying. He made a change by competing with a trans symbol sticker on his headgear from then on. His teammates were confused (some of them were even angry at Mr. Taylor), but had to listen to him because he was the best wrestler and their team captain.