Something Gay: Support for the Irina Foundation is already heating up!
This week’s positive spotlight focuses on an advocate for queer people in a space where many have been excluded: sports. Although the project is just getting its feet off the ground, it has already received encouraging support and funding!
However, before I get to the light-hearted topic, I feel as though omitting what happened at Cornell University would be ignoring it. I refuse to simply slap good news over the vile crimes and gross underpunishment of the Cornell 7. We have a right to, and should, feel angry. No amount of positive news or hopeful content can replace the fear and rage of 57 complicit individuals. Although I want to inspire hope, I will not ignore that now is not an easy time to have it. I don’t mean to lie and say everything will be fine, but to encourage us to fight for a better future, because we deserve more. I hope that the creation of a foundation inspired by the love of two very gay hockey players will give you what you need to keep going this week.
Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, the founders of the production company for the HBO Max series Heated Rivalry, officially launched a nonprofit called the Irina Foundation on September 29. The foundation’s mission is to promote diversity in sports. I’m sure the show needs no introduction, but if you are somehow unaware, it's the one with the gay hockey players. Inspired by Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel of the same name, the series follows two professional hockey players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozonov, and their love story. The project was inspired by a similar fund created in the book by Shane and Ilya to support queer people in sports, which was named for Ilya’s mother, who died after many years fighting a mental health crisis. The founders are quoted in an LGBTQ Nation article, stating that the fund is “dedicated to championing inclusivity and mental well-being through participation in sports and the arts.” The men’s care brand Harry’s is credited on the foundation's website as an early supporter of the fund, alongside Kate Spade New York, its inaugural donor.
The Heated Rivalry production company Accent Aigu has already raised over $1.5 million in the past few months with the help of organizations like You Can Play and Rainbow Railroad, as well as from fans, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Irina Foundation will serve as a way to continue that work while broadening its scale. In the next 12 months, the Irina Foundation has big things planned, including four Sports Gala Days, a collaboration with Sport Inclusion Australia for an Inclusive Sports Forum, and capacity-building workshops. As of October 6, their website reports $85,104 in donations by 1,974 contributors in just 8 days. And that’s all outside Canada! The foundation has raised $37,469 towards its goal of $10 million through the Canada Helps Donation Website as well.
The amount of support garnered for this cause in such a short amount of time gives me hope that enough people care for us to make a difference. Whether through donation or reposting, so many have supported the Irina Foundation because they were inspired by a story of queer love. Despite mixed reactions to the series, Heated Rivalry has now led to the real, tangible change that author Rachel Reid and directors Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady felt it could make.