244: Sally Rugg

Sally Rugg is an LGBTIQ activist and Executive Director of Change.org - find her on twitter @sallyrugg or on Instagram @_campaign_papi.

Sally is a smart, charming, powerful person whose leadership and drive to make our community as inclusive and excellent as it can be is something I found inspirational.

If you’ve ever wondered about why someone might pursue a career in activism, or indeed what life is like for someone who stands up in public and fights for the human rights of those underrepresented in our community - Sally is here to tell you all about it.

I for one feel we are lucky to have people like Sally in our community - people who tirelessly fight for the rights of others.

She certainly got me thinking about the privilege I got born with, and what I choose to use that privilege for.

Sally and I first connected over Twitter when we were trying to figure out a way to figure out a same-sex version of The Bachelorette happening, and after a few tweets back and forth I ended up asking her here to talk about that but also so many other things.

So I’ll say this part now.

In this conversation, I’m probably going to make a lot of mistakes when discussing the important nuances of life outside my heteronormative bubble. I will probably mess up some pronouns, I’ll probably accidentally minimise the impact of important distinctions and issues. I want to assure you - I’m keen to learn, I’m keen to get more aware of micro-aggressions in my language, so if I make some glaringly obvious out-of-my depth straight-white-guy mistakes, please be so kind and email me sendosheremail@gmail.com and perhaps help me not make those mistakes again.

I know that the more I discover about lives that are so different to mine, the more I realise how little I know, and how much I am yet to learn. So I’m all ears and I look forward to hearing from you.

One thing I did learn - is that Sally and I share an undying love and devotion for the band Hanson. You may think this conversation is going to be political and explore the tricky ways that we could try to get a same-sex reality TV dating show to work - it’s all those things, with a lot of singing of Hanson songs.

Sally is a fabulous person and I hope you do all you can to support her and the important work she does at change.org.

She’s young, she’s full of energy, and she’s just getting started. I’m grateful that we had the chance to talk now, because mark my words in a few years from now you’ll be glad you caught a glimpse of the powerhouse this woman is, so you can say “yeah I always knew she’d go on to change the world” did you know she likes Hanson?

If you like what you hear, please let her know on Twitter @sallyrugg or on Instagram @_campaign_papi.

So enjoy this chat with the wonderful Sally Rugg.

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