Harrison, NJ (June 23, 2021) – The New York Red Bulls will continue to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month throughout June culminating at Red Bull Arena on July 17 for Pride Night presented by Hackensack Meridian Health.
The club will make a donation to Pride Live, an organization that is dedicated to accelerating awareness and support for the LGBTQ+ community via social advocacy and community engagement to advance the fight for full equality.
Pride Live Founder and President Diana Rodriguez has been named the club’s Homegrown Hero for the month of June and will recognized during a presentation on Pride Night, when the Red Bulls host Inter Miami CF. In addition, Pride-inspired warm-up tops worn by Red Bulls players will be auctioned off with 92% of proceeds going to Pride Live.
“Diana’s activism has lifted LGBTQ+ visibility to new heights and turned our organization’s signature program – Stonewall Day – into an event that carries powerful messages of affirmation to community members and allies across the country and around the world,” said Ann Marie Gothard, President, Pride Live board of directors. “In addition, we are so proud of our partnership with the New York Red Bulls and grateful for their support to actively advance the Stonewall legacy and the fight for full LGBTQ+ equality.”
The Red Bulls will also donate to the New York Ramblers Scholarship Fund, supporting student athletes pursuing an undergraduate education that self-identify publicly as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI), or as demonstrated and committed straight allies. Formed in 1980 at Central Park in New York City, the Ramblers are the world’s first openly-gay soccer club.
New York Red Bulls’ Senior Director of Content and Communications Jayne Bussman-Wise serves as an official Pride Live Stonewall Day Ambassador, elevating and generating awareness around the Stonewall Uprising that occurred in June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.
“Pride Night is about visibility, inclusivity, and creating a welcoming environment for all athletes and fans,” said Bussman-Wise. I’m proud to be a Stonewall Day Ambassador and we’re honored to give back to Pride Live and the Ramblers to help support all of the great work that they are doing to drive awareness and support for the LGBTQ+ community.”
About the New York Red Bulls
The New York Red Bulls are one of 27 teams in Major League Soccer (MLS). RBNY, one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, have competed in the league since its founding in 1996. The Red Bulls play home matches at Red Bull Arena (RBA) in Harrison, New Jersey. The three-time MLS Supporters' Shield Winners are owned by the Austrian beverage company Red Bull for which the team is named. The New York Red Bulls offer one of the nation's premier youth soccer development programs, from local soccer partnerships across New York and New Jersey to Regional Development Schools and the Red Bulls Academy teams.
About Hackensack Meridian HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. The network has 17 hospitals and more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 36,000 team members, and over 7,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine opened in 2018, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its third class of students in 2020 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.
Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.
For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.
About Pride Live
Founded in 2012, Pride Live is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to accelerating awareness and support for the LGBTQ+ community via social advocacy and community engagement to advance the fight for full equality. From working with the most marginalized and underrepresented organizations, to supporting the effort leading up to the declaration of Stonewall National Monument, and to conceptualizing and developing Stonewall Day, a benefit concert to elevate and boost awareness of the Stonewall rebellion and LGBTQ+ activism – Pride Live works in service of the LGBTQ+ community. To learn more about Pride Live, visit www.pridelive.org.
