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Nike donates $200,000 towards ending homophobia in sports

Nov 01 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

The world’s largest sporting apparel company Nike, pledged to donate all proceeds from a special line of gear towards LGBT equality in sports, and has now donated $200,000 to an LGBT sporting charity.

Nike launched the #BeTrue range earlier this year, which came to fruition in October as the sports apparel giant donated the $200,000 (£125,000) to the LGBT Sports Coalition.

The coalition hopes to end homophobia in sports by 2016. According to Campus Pride, one of the groups affiliated with the coalition, said the donation was the largest Nike’s employee network has ever made to an LGBT cause, and the first ever made to the coalition.

“Today we need more corporations to speak up and take a stand against anti-LGBT bias and bullying in sports,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, said in the release. And I think that’s a key point that Nike’s partnership here is going to drive home.

An openly-gay basketball star in the US, who came out in March in an interview, has signed an endorsement deal with sports giant Nike, debunking the idea that she would have been throwing away endorsement opportunities by coming out.

US basketball star Brittney Griner came out as gay, and offered advice for young women looking up to her to “just be who you are”, and not worry about what other people might be thinking.