Ex-College Soccer Player Clashes with Nike Over Gender-Transition Surgeries for Minors

NurPhoto/Getty Images Sophia Lorey, a former college soccer player from California, has backed the Nike shareholder scrutiny over the company’s ties to groups that back transgender surgery on minors. On Tuesday, the Christian investment firm Inspire Investing sent 26-year-old Lorey to address Nike shareholders about the company’s controversial partnerships, according to the New York Post. The Vanguard University alum was expected to focus on Nike’s relationship with the Human Rights Campaign, arguing that the company’s support for the LGBTQ advocacy organization clashes with its marketing of women’s athletics, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a recording of her planned remarks. The Nike vote is part of a wider pressure campaign by Inspire, which manages $5.4 billion and has been questioning scores of major corporations about their policies on transgender issues. The investment firm and its allies have contacted 242 employers seeking information about whether their health insurance plans pay for gender-related surgeries for minors, Bloomberg reported. “Given the EEOC’s current high-profile investigation into Nike over ‘systemic race discrimination allegations’ occurring partially as a result of the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, investors are right to be concerned about what further brand politicization could do to company performance,” the proposal states. “Charitable partnerships are approved … only after a robust due diligence review of the proposed recipient organization,” Nike’s board said in a regulatory filing. As Breitbart News reported on Tuesday, Nike is “set to leave the S&P 100 later this month as part of the index’s quarterly rebalance, ending a nearly 18-year run in the indicator.”