\n<\/p>\n
\n\tGymnast Aly Raisman is no stranger to accepting awards. She\u2019s earned six Olympic medals, five World Championship medals, and now, the Variety<\/em> Courage Award, presented by Purina. She accepted the honor at Variety<\/em>\u2018s L.A. Power of Women event Wednesday in Beverly Hills. After an introduction from her fellow Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, Raisman took the stage, delivering a speech that stressed the importance of coming together to create avenues for change, because \u201cHope grows when communities show up.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Raisman\u2019s accomplishments on the mat are legendary, she is being honored with the Courage Award for her work as an advocate, ally and activist. She testified before the Senate in 2018 about the sexual abuse allocations against USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar and continues to speak up against sexual abuse. She\u2019s championed mental health awareness, advocated for pet-friendly shelters for survivors of domestic violence, and authored the 2024 children\u2019s book \u201cFrom My Head to My Toes,\u201d which teaches kids about consent.<\/p>\n \n\tChiles introduced her, saying, \u201cTonight, we\u2019re not here to celebrate what Aly did on a four-inch beam or on the floor. We\u2019re here to celebrate something that requires even more courage \u2014 what she\u2019s done with her voice.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAccordingly, Raisman used her speech as an opportunity to speak up for people who are still enduring domestic abuse. \u201cViolence is their daily reality,\u201d she said, \u201cFor too many, home is the least safe place.\u201d At the same time, she acknowledged that \u201cLeaving isn\u2019t simple. So many factors can keep a person in harm\u2019s way: children, finances, threats, lack of resources and support, uncertainty, fear, even pets.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFocusing on the importance of keeping people and their pets together, she showed gratitude for Purina\u2019s Purple Leash Project, stating, \u201cI want to acknowledge the people and organizations working to remove these barriers by creating safe options, including pet-friendly shelters. Initiatives like the Purple Leash Project are critical so no one has to choose between safety and a family member.\u201d She then spoke about how her own dog, Mylo, helps her enjoy day-to-day life and maintain her mental health. <\/p>\n \n\tIn a call to action, Raisman added that \u201cWe need to acknowledge the prevalence of abuse before becoming part of the solution\u201d and encouraged the audience to \u201cnever underestimate the power of your belief and action in someone\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cKeep reaching out until someone listens and provides you with the validation you deserve and stands with you,\u201d she implored the audience, \u201cI promise you there are people out there who will believe and help you. Sometimes it may just take time to find that person or organization. But please don\u2019t give up until you find someone.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe concluded her speech with a hopeful message, saying, \u201cYour body is your own. It is a basic human right to be safe and have a safe place to call home. If it feels dark right now, you won\u2019t feel like this forever. There is help. There is community. There is a future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gymnast Aly Raisman is no stranger to accepting awards. She\u2019s earned six Olympic medals, five World Championship medals, and now, the Variety Courage Award, presented by Purina. She accepted the honor at Variety\u2018s L.A. Power of Women event Wednesday in Beverly Hills. After an introduction from her fellow Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, Raisman took the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[18257,2208,7510,1664,18258,10540,8811,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-31434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-aly","9":"tag-award","10":"tag-courage","11":"tag-power","12":"tag-raisman","13":"tag-receives","14":"tag-variety","15":"tag-women"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}