It was Hudson Taylor’s final season as the team wresting captain at the University of Maryland. Through his many years in athletics, Taylor witnessed relentless homophobia and transphobia in locker rooms and playing fields across the nation.
After deciding enough was enough, Taylor donned an LGBT rights sticker on his wrestling headgear and came out as a straight LGBT ally. He began blogging about experiencing homophobia in collegiate sports and received hundreds of emails from closeted athletes.
His experiences in college drove him to create the widely successful non-profit organization, Athlete Ally, “with the mission of educating, encouraging and empowering straight athlete allies to combat homophobia and transphobia in sports.”
Today, Taylor is considered to be a foremost LGBT rights advocate as an ally.
He will be at Wright State on Nov. 20 to speak about creating a safe space for individuals of all genders and sexualities in athletics. His lecture will be delivered at 5:30 p.m. in the Apollo Room. The event is free to all attendees.
“Athletics should be a safe space for everybody,” Hudson said in an interview. “It’s really just that simple. I believe athletic communities are ready to deal honestly with this issue.”
His lecture will detail his journey of becoming an ally for the LGBT community and will help others learn how they can be an integral part of the solution.
To find out more about the event, contact Amanda Herbe, the co-chair for the Allies Organization for GLBTQA faculty and staff, at (937) 775-5700.
To learn more about Hudson Taylor, visit http://www.campuspeak.com/speakers/taylor.
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