Being an Ally..Wait, What?

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Educational Network, better known as GLSEN is promoting its annual #allyweek starting October 21. The organization is encouraging people everywhere whether straight, gay, lesbian, trans, etc. to stand in solidarity and be an ally. Twitter hashtags are popping up everywhere including #allyweek #allypride #LGBTally. It's all great PR right? But what is an ally? Could a regular person off the street tell you what an ally was in an LGBT context? Can gay people be allies?

The issues we find in sports is that the term "ally" has spread like wildfire. Organizations have been founded on this platform, such as Athlete Ally, an international nonprofit working to eradicate homophobia and transphobia in sport. Teams, leagues and major sports icons are encouraging everyone to sign petitions, speak out via social media and verbally commit to being an ally. Again though, where does all this promise go? What is it achieving? AND what is an ally?!

An ally, by many standards, can be anyone whether heterosexual, homosexual, or whateversexual. Being an ally doesn't have to fit into a certain shape or color. Being an ally is a symbol of unwavering support for equality and human rights. Of course, allyship has been coined in relation to LGBT lives and journeys. Therefore, being an ally today signifies uniting for inclusion of LGBT people in a variety of spectrums, including sport. In fact, most of the advancement we have seen in sport regarding welcoming communities could have not been achieved had it not been for allyship and an environment that celebrates diversity.

The next step has to be action. Content drives action as often discussed by public relations practitioners. Well we aren't running a PR campaign or firm per say, but to make sports, both at the pro and collegiate level, a more accepting sphere, allies need to take action. That can be as little as a tweet sent to 20K followers, or as big as expressing verbal support for LGBT athletes in an ESPN interview. Whatever it is, the action must go beyond hiding your name on a petition. Especially if athletes are high profile, their status should be used to help achieve a level playing field on a visible stage. Once this happens, everyone involved in sport will have a clear and evident illustration of what it truly means to be an ally.