The Gay Footballer: An Interview with Playing for Pride founder Austin da Luz

Editor’s Note: As a follow-up to last week’s column about Playing for Pride we would like to share this fantastic interview Adam did with the organization’s founder Austin da Luz. Enjoy!-SM

Adam McCabe: Can you give me a brief background of your playing career?
Austin da Luz: I was drafted in 2010 by the New York Red Bulls after playing at Wake Forest University for four years. I spent about a year and a half with the Red Bulls before being traded to DC United where I finished out the 2011 season. In 2012 I signed with the Carolina RailHawks (now North Carolina FC) of the NASL and played two seasons until moving to Orlando City SC in 2014 for their last season in the USL. After the 2014 USL season I returned to North Carolina FC and have been here ever since.

AM: What sparked you to start Playing for Pride?
AL: Playing for Pride came into being as a response to a couple of different things. Most notable was HB2, more commonly known as the “Bathroom Bill” here in North Carolina. I was angry about the way that this bill was affecting the LGBTQ community in my home state, and I was also frustrated at the way our state was subsequently portrayed in the national media. I saw this as a small way to hopefully push back against both of those things. In a more general sense, I was just looking for a way to act. I was tired of feeling helpless watching the way our political discourse had devolved in the lead up to the 2016 election. The wave of activism that followed, specifically in the sports world, inspired me to try to find a tangible way to contribute.

AM: Can you describe exactly how Playing for Pride got started?
AL: After kicking the idea around in my head for a couple weeks, I finally decided to bounce it off a few people who had experience with fundraising and got a lot of positive feedback. This was the most important step for me. Talking to people about it made it a little more real, and getting that reinforcement from people I trusted pushed me to sit down and get it done. From there I started to research websites that would facilitate what I had in mind because I have no idea how to even begin building a website, especially one that needed a donation function. CrowdRise turned out to be exactly what I was looking for, and fortunately I was able to select HRC as the beneficiary from their database, so all donations would go directly to them. After completing the CrowdRise page, I grabbed the @playingforpride handle on twitter and just started spreading the word using that, along with the help of a few of my teammates who reached out to people they knew. After that it just took on a life of its own thanks to all the incredible support from fellow players, fans, front office personnel, journalists, clubs and even leagues.

AM: Why did you think Playing for Pride would be effective?
AL: I hoped that it would be effective because I know that as players we have a platform and a voice that people will listen to. Some have a bigger platform than others, but we are all seen as leaders in the communities that we play in, so I knew that if I could get some of my fellow players to speak up in support of the LGBTQ community people would take notice and hopefully do the same.

AM: What are your thoughts thus far on how this initiative has grown?
AL: I’ve been blown away by the way Playing for Pride has grown, especially now in our second year. I just feel so much gratitude for the support it’s received and the way people have taken ownership of it and made it what it is. Hopefully the way that it’s grown is sending a strong message to the LGBTQ community that we’re always willing to stand with them.

AM: Why did you change the organization you will donate to (or does this change annually)?
AL: Coming into year two I wanted to change the organization to focus more on equality in the sports world. Obviously, this is the community I’m a part of, and I think we have a long way to go in terms of creating spaces where more people feel safe and comfortable being themselves and telling their stories. Athlete Ally was the perfect partner for this, and their support has given the whole campaign a huge boost in terms of exposure and awareness.

AM: What do you envision seeing for the future of Playing for Pride?
AL: In an ideal world I’d love to see Playing for Pride become obsolete. To my mind, being anti-discrimination should not be a particularly notable stance, but obviously that’s not the world we live in. So as far as the future goes I would just hope that we can continue to encourage athletes to stand up and speak out in support of the LGBTQ community, in turn creating environments where more people feel safe being themselves. In the end, I think this is what will make the biggest difference. Representation is such a powerful thing, so we must ask ourselves why there is so little LGBTQ representation in the sports world, and what are we doing to try to help change that?

AM: Explain your feelings as you saw how successful year one was and what you wanted to improve upon for year two?
Not really knowing what to expect going into year one, I felt validated and hopeful after seeing the success we had. As far as improvements for year two, I basically just wanted to go bigger. I felt we could do this by shortening the actual fundraising aspect to one month. A season long commitment can seem daunting, no matter what it’s for, and I felt we’d get a bigger response from players if we condensed everything. I think that is where the real impact lies, with the players speaking out, so that’s been my main focus. Obviously being partnered with Athlete Ally has been instrumental in terms of outreach as well. They built a great donation page and have been continuously amplifying our message.

AM: Where you surprised about how much media attention you received for this initiative?
AL: A little. I think once some more well-known players started to get involved it became clear that more people were paying attention. A lot of that fascination probably comes from the idea that athletes don’t usually take strong stances on controversial or “political” issues, but hopefully the fact that so many have gotten on board with Playing for Pride helps to dispel that assumption while simultaneously reinforcing the notion that this should not be a controversial stance to take.