2023 Stanford Pride Awards
Each year, Stanford Pride honors members of the Stanford community for their contributions to the LGBTQ+ community. We recognized three outstanding recipients for the Stanford Pride Award of Merit. Read about our 2023 Awardees below. Award recipients will be recognized at the Stanford Pride Reunion Gala!
2023 TRAILBLAZER AWARD
Jason Collins (he/him) ’01
Jason Collins is a retired American professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Collins attended Stanford University, where he was an All-American in the 2000-2001 season. He was also named to the All Pac-10 First Team and awarded the NABC Pete Newell “Big Man of the Year” Award. He finished his college career ranked first in Stanford history for field goal percentage and third in blocked shots. Upon graduating with a B.A. from Stanford, Collins was selected in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft with the 18th overall pick. Now a 13-year veteran, Collins has played center for six teams including New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota, Atlanta, Boston, Washington and, most recently, the Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets). In his 13 years in the league, Collins’ teams earned 10 trips to the playoffs including 2 NBA Finals appearances.
After the 2012-13 NBA season concluded, Collins publicly came out as gay in a cover story for Sports Illustrated, becoming the first male active player in any of the four major American professional sports to announce that he is gay. President Obama expressed his gratitude to Collins for his courageous announcement and said he “couldn’t be prouder” of Collins, recognizing this as a point of progress for the LGBT community, and one more step in America’s goal to treat everyone fairly and with respect. Collins has traveled the country with the mission of empowering people to live their lives as their true selves, and has become an active member of numerous charities, foundations and organizations. In 2013, GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, honored Collins with the Courage Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards. In 2014, Logo TV honored Collins with its inaugural Trailblazer Award. Also in 2014, the Matthew Shepard Foundation honored Collins with its Making a Difference Award at its annual Honors Gala.
In April 2014, Collins was featured on the cover of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” In January of 2015, the National Civil Rights Museum honored Collins with a Sports Legacy Award.From 2014 to 2017 Collins served on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, which works to motivate Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle via physical activity and nutrition. Since retiring from playing, Collins has become a NBA Cares Ambassador — spreading goodwill on behalf of the NBA with its players, community, and corporate partners. Collins received an honorary doctorate from Middlebury College in 2022. Collins resides in both Los Angeles, California and Austin, Texas.
2023 STANFORD PRIDE AWARD OF MERIT
Lily Zheng (they/them) ’17, MA ’17
LILY ZHENG (they/them) is a no-nonsense Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategist, consultant, speaker and author who helps organizations and leaders achieve the DEI outcomes they aspire to. A dedicated practitioner and advocate named aForbes D&I Trailblazer,2021 DEI Influencer, and LinkedInTop Voice on Racial Equity, Lily has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and NPR. Their bestselling books,DEI Deconstructed and Reconstructing DEI, describe cutting-edge, accountable, and effective practices that can enable any leader to create the diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations we all deserve.
2023 STANFORD PRIDE AWARD OF MERIT
Jay-Marie Hill (they/all/Holy) ’10
A sought after musician, educator and “creative mind asking the questions that will shape the future of culture,” Jay-Marie (they/all/Holy) is a Bay Area born, St. Louis, MO based Black & Boricua artist committed to Black Transcendence, at once a movement and their organization which seeks to expand trans-affirming policies and embodied possibility for all through Black Trans perspectives on body, mind, & spirit. From biking, to music, to advocacy, they leave a long trail of projects reclaiming the power of spirit and community.
Jay-Marie’s work and breath is grounded in their passion for witnessing, learning from, and developing others into loving warriors who take on the healing and transforming of their communities and our world. Ultimately, they are most committed to the intersections of possibility, revolutionary music and queer political work as they relate to shaping what freedom looks like for the next generation.
To experience the sonic, Black Transcendent lineage, Jay-Marie is Holy’s music is available for purchase on bandcamp and otherwise accessible on all digital music platforms.