To celebrate Pride Month, we re-share our conversation with professional Javelin thrower and LGBTQ+ advocate Nika Oullette. Nika is an ambassador for Athlete Ally, an organization that aims to activate the athletic community to exercise their leadership to champion LGBTQ+ equality. Our conversation with Nika stems from an event last July when RISE teamed up with Athlete Ally to engage USC and UCLA student-athletes in Los Angeles, empowering them to advocate for racial and LGBTQ equality and explore ways to unite and mobilize the sports community across various social justice movements. In this interview, Nika speaks about her experience being one of four openly gay sisters in her family, the intersectionality of social justice movements across race, gender and sexuality – among other aspects of diversity – and the role the athletic community should play in addressing larger issues of inequality.
