In her first professional move since losing the race for mayor, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has joined the board of a nonprofit whose mission is to fight homophobia in sports.
She began the unpaid post at Athlete Ally after being introduced to its founder, Hudson Taylor, through her nephew.
The move comes as gay and lesbian athletes are set to compete in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where Vladimir Putin’s government has passed anti-gay laws that prohibit “propaganda of nontraditional sexual practices.”
“The Olympics being held in Sochi shows how necessary this mission is,” Quinn told the Daily News. “We want to support our LGBT athletes and use this as an opportunity to show that we need to be hands-on fighting homophobia in sports.”
Quinn said she is focused on raising awareness around “Principle 6” of the Olympic charter, which states that discrimination against participating athletes is incompatible with the Olympic Movement.
She was photographed for a Vogue.com photo essay, due to appear during the Olympics, posing in a “P6” hat to raise awareness for the cause.
The one-time mayoral Democratic front-runner has said she plans to take a few months off before making a move to a paid full-time job. Quinn has told associates she is not interested in pursuing a big-bucks career in the private sector because she wants to leave the door open for another run for office down the line, sources said.
Quinn said joining New York-based Athlete Ally last month is a first step in her life as a private citizen.
“I was looking to join boards where boards were active and really involved,” she said. She said she will raise funds and use her connections to help the organization grow.
