\u201cAs a former student athlete and current civil rights attorney who works on gender and racial equity, as well as LGBTQ+ inclusion in athletics, we thought Ashland was the perfect person to speak on this theme,\u201d said Kathleen Casey, director of the WGSS program.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/11\/2024-11-21-Ashland-Johnson-Selects-for-News-5-768x512.jpg\")
A student asks a question to Ashland Johnson ’05, who was the speaker in a CLP event hosted by Furman’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program Nov. 21, 2024.<\/p><\/div>\n
Johnson recognized early on that she was treated differently because of her identity. Despite a good jump shot and a “decent” crossover, she said her sexual orientation bothered people on campus. She was committed to being an example for other queer Black students, however, and was involved in building a supportive community for LGBTQ+ students on and off-campus. She was a member of the “Friends of Lesbians and Gays” group on campus and advocated with others in 2003 to change the name to the Queer Student Alliance.<\/a><\/p>\n The current Furman women\u2019s basketball team was invited to the CLP and had the chance to meet Johnson and take photos with her. Casey said this was an opportunity for them to think about how the themes of inclusion and equity impact their lives, but also for others to learn about the challenges student athletes face and what roles athletics play in their lives.<\/p>\n For four years, Furman University was everything to Johnson. Her college experience was her first time practicing advocacy, and her teammates became lifelong friends and colleagues. When she left Furman, she took a job in Atlanta in higher education. She expected to be able to stretch her legs more as an advocate there but was instead fired when her employer learned she was a lesbian.<\/p>\n Johnson was confident her termination was illegal and sought help from the ACLU and Lambda Legal to challenge it. She learned that, in Georgia, it was legal to fire her for her sexuality.<\/p>\n “I didn’t know my rights, and I hadn’t done anything to protect them,” she said. \u201cExperiencing such discrimination firsthand and fighting in order to protect my rights in collaboration with civil rights lawyers to hold my employer accountable fueled my passion for civil rights advocacy.”<\/p>\n To move on from that painful chapter of her life she pursued her juris doctor at the University of Georgia School of Law. She worked to advance civil rights at organizations including Lambda Legal, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Georgia Equality, the ACLU, the National Women’s Law Center, Athlete Ally and the Human Rights Campaign, where she headed the public education and research program.<\/p>\n A student asks a question at the Nov. 21, 2024 CLP featuring former Furman women’s basketball player Ashland Johnson ’05, who has had a career as a civil rights attorney.<\/p><\/div>\n Throughout Johnson’s career, she’s worked with organizations like the NBA, NCAA, National Women’s Soccer League and the U.S. Olympic Committee, helping draft policies and provide inclusivity training for athletes and coaches alike. In 2018, she started The Inclusion Playbook<\/a>, a company bringing athletes and policy experts together for social justice.<\/p>\n “I just decided to bet on myself,” she said. “I’m now doing what I love with people I admire, in communities that I deeply care about.”<\/p>\n![\"Students](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2024\/11\/2024-11-21-Ashland-Johnson-Selects-for-News-4-768x512.jpg\")