The NFL Player Standing In Solidarity With Trans Athletes

The NFL Player Standing In Solidarity With Trans Athletes

NFL free agent RK Russell joins the show to talk about why defending transgender athletes is especially important now.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

This week we speak to free agent NFL player RK Russell about his oped in The Guardian in defense of transgender athletes as well as his process of writing. Russell has some great advice for up-and-coming athletes.

We also have Choice Words about the LAPD’s efforts to ride LeBron James’s coattails in a transparently disingenuous way. In addition, we have Just Stand Up and Just Sit Down awards to, respectively, recent Baltimore Ravens draft pick Odafe Oweh for taking a stand on pronunciation of his African name, and the NFL analysts at the Draft that criticized players for sitting out a Covid-filled season, respectively. All this and more on this week’s show!

RK Russell
Twitter: @RKRelentless
“Trans kids deserve the same opportunity that made my NFL career possible,” The Guardian

Zirin
Voices Are Raised Against the NBA Launching Its New African League in Rwanda

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

 

Time is running out to have your gift matched 

In this time of unrelenting, often unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness, I’m grateful for Nation readers like you. 

So many of you have taken to the streets, organized in your neighborhood and with your union, and showed up at the ballot box to vote for progressive candidates. You’re proving that it is possible—to paraphrase the legendary Patti Smith—to redeem the work of the fools running our government.

And as we head into 2026, I promise that The Nation will fight like never before for justice, humanity, and dignity in these United States. 

At a time when most news organizations are either cutting budgets or cozying up to Trump by bringing in right-wing propagandists, The Nation’s writers, editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, and illustrators confront head-on the administration’s deadly abuses of power, blatant corruption, and deconstruction of both government and civil society. 

We couldn’t do this crucial work without you.

Through the end of the year, a generous donor is matching all donations to The Nation’s independent journalism up to $75,000. But the end of the year is now only days away. 

Time is running out to have your gift doubled. Don’t wait—donate now to ensure that our newsroom has the full $150,000 to start the new year. 

Another world really is possible. Together, we can and will win it!

Love and Solidarity,

John Nichols 

Executive Editor, The Nation

Ad Policy
x