The Nike Be True collection for 2021 is inspired by the concept that athletics may serve as a platform for radical inclusiveness. Simultaneously, sport is richer when it incorporates the different stories, histories, and orientations of each individual. This year’s footwear features a diverse set of flag patches that can be applied to the Blazer ’77 Low, the Air Max Pre Day, the All Out Utility Slide, and the Infinity React Run 2. A wide spectrum of nine LGBTQIA+ flags, highlighting the personal stories deep inside each stripe color, is broadly explored.
A conviction in the significance of varied representation has long been a cornerstone of Nike and its Be True collection, not just via product, but also through community participation – particularly through Nike’s cooperation with national and local groups on the front lines of LGBTQIA+ activism. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is one such organization with a more than four-decade history. Legacy, on the other hand, may retain a young energy. Gia Parr, who announced her transition to female to her middle school three years ago, was one of the faces of its Youth Ambassadors program last year, a collective brought together to engage rising adolescent voices. Through the fearless leadership of teenagers like Parr, their candor is inspiring a new generation to believe that their testimony will be valued, welcomed, and heard.
Parr pauses for a bit before coming up with the phrase to characterize her own coming-out story: a build-up. She recalls the several contexts in which she came out to the most significant people in her life, long before she boldly informed her peers at school, through a handwritten letter she nervously read aloud.
It wouldn’t be long before Parr’s tale was included in daytime interviews and evening newscasts. It soon started to spread across organizations. A year after being the original champion for GenderCool, a campaign started in 2017 to showcase the personal experiences of transgender and non-binary adolescents, Parr was selected to become an HRC Youth Ambassador.
It would be natural for her to want to tailor her message to various audiences. A different audience, a different tone. Except that when Parr is questioned about working with a varied spectrum of organizations, each with its own legacy, she quickly responds that her own narrative does not alter. Her transition announcement was the same whether she told her parents, her closest friend, or her school. The narrative was more than the sum of its parts. Her identity was defined by her narrative. And, although circumstances and media may vary, she believes that the essence of inclusive storytelling is a commitment to one’s own experience.
