With some big game better known as the Super Bowl having taken over Atlanta for the week, football is on the minds of many in the Peach State.
Atlanta is also home to the LGBTQ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and they are hoping to shift the conversation on how society sees LGBTQ athletes.
On January 23, it debuted the “Breaking Barriers: Sports for Change” exhibit. Layshia Clarendon took part in a panel discussion that also included former NFL player Michael Sam as well as Pat Manuel, a pro boxer, and Phaidra Knight – a former rugby player.
Among what is included in the exhibit are athlete biographies, and an opportunity to look at social ills through the lenses of athletes who have experienced them first hand.
People recognize the power sports have to create change. I think our visitors who go will easily make that connection and be inspired about it.
–Ryan Roemerman, Executive Director LGBTQ Insitute (per the Georgia Voice)
Visitors attending the exhibit while it is in Atlanta will get in free because of a $1 million grant from Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, where former WNBA president Lisa Borders was once an executive.
The exhibit is being done in partnership through ESPN and will be at the LGBTQ Institute through April. Where its next stop will be has yet to be announced.
