MLB Icon Joe Torre Signs Athlete Ally Pledge

During this year’s MLB All Star Game FanFest, Joe Torre, the Executive Vice-President of Baseball Operations for Major League Baseball, spoke with the Athlete Ally team and signed the Athlete Ally pledge.  Alyson Footer reported on Torre’s visit to the Athlete Ally booth.

For Torre, signing the pledge was a simple, but necessary, step in moving the cause forward to ensure all athletes — regardless of sexual orientation — are treated equally.

“What you are is a human being,” Torre said. “Respect is important. In order to get it, you have to give it.”

Athlete Ally has received support from representatives of all sports leagues, with ambassadors coming from everywhere — MLB, the NFL, the WNBA, tennis, the Olympics and soccer.

An Athlete Ally can be any person, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, who takes a stand against homophobia and transphobia in sports and brings the message of respect, inclusion and equality to an athletic community.

“What it stands for is the most important thing,” Torre said, as a crowd of admiring fans began to form around him at the Athlete Ally booth. “It’s life. We have to certainly understand it.”

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