Jason Ball (activist)

Jason Ball (born 16 January 1988) is an Australian LGBTI and mental health advocate and former political candidate. In 2012, he came out as gay, and launched a campaign to tackle homophobia in Australian rules football.[1][2] He stood for the Australian Greens as a candidate in the House of Representatives seat of Higgins at the 2016 Federal election and 2019 Federal election.[3][4] In 2017 he was named the Young Australian of the Year for Victoria.[5]

Not to be confused with Jason Ball (Australian footballer).

Jason Ball
Born (1988-01-16) 16 January 1988
NationalityAustralian
Political partyGreens

Background and early life

Ball attended high school at Yarra Valley Grammar and completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne in 2010. He played for the Yarra Glen Football Club in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League until taking time off in 2015 due to injury.

Ball credits his rural upbringing for fostering an interest in protecting the environment, and a high school exchange to Kansas for awakening an interest in critical thinking, philosophy and secularism.[6][7]

Activism

AFL anti-homophobia campaign

Ball started a petition on change.org on 9 September 2012 that called on the Australian Football League (AFL) to play "No To Homophobia" television commercials on the big screen of the 2012 AFL Grand Final and also commit to a Pride Round.

The petition received over 29,000 signatures and gained national and international media coverage.[8][9] The AFL agreed to screen the No to Homophobia TVCs during the preliminary finals that year.[10]

Ball was invited to lead the 18th Pride March Victoria alongside his teammates from the Yarra Glen Football Club. They were also joined by AFL footballers Brock McLean and Daniel Jackson, marking the first time AFL players had been formally involved in the event.[11][12]

In 2013, Ball partnered with the AFL Players Association to launch a social media campaign tackling homophobic language in sport, featuring some of the AFL's biggest names, including Jobe Watson, Scott Pendlebury and Andrew Swallow.[13]

Pride Cup / Pride Game

On 3 May 2014, Ball's team Yarra Glen hosted the inaugural Pride Cup, which saw the 50 metre lines at each end of the oval painted in rainbow colours. The AFL supported the event by hosting a pre-match function, and General Manager of Football Operations Mark Evans announced that the AFL would support a national Pride Cup, and that it was up to clubs to show interest.[14]

As part of the 2015 Pride Cup, an education program was developed to help players and coaches challenge homophobia in sport.[15] The organisers behind the 2015 Cup were awarded a VicHealth Award for building health through sport on 1 December 2015.[16]

In August 2015 St Kilda Football Club CEO Matt Finnis announced that the club would lobby the AFL for a Pride Game for the 2016 fixture, inspired by Yarra Glen's Pride Cup.[17] It was confirmed in October 2015 that the first AFL Pride Game will be contested between St Kilda and Sydney in round 21 of the 2016 season.[18]

Mental health and LGBTI inclusion

In 2013, Ball became an ambassador for beyondblue, the Australian national mental health initiative. In this role he has spoken to schools, sporting clubs and workplaces across the country.[19]

From 2014 to 2015, Ball was an ambassador for Safe Schools Coalition Australia, an organisation which aims to make schools safer and more inclusive for LGBTI students.[20]

Ball worked as a Government Liaison and Project Officer for the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre from 2014 to 2015, a non-profit organisation that explores the role of technology in improving the mental health of young people.[21]

Secularism

Ball was an organiser and spokesperson for the 2010 and 2012 Global Atheist Conventions held in Melbourne, Victoria.[22] He presented at the 2012 convention with a talk titled A Fresh Generation of Freethinkers is Among Us.[23] He was also the co-founder and President of the Freethought Student Alliance, a coalition of Australian atheist, secular, humanist and skeptic campus groups.[24]

Awards

Ball was included in The Age's Top 100 most influential Melburnians of 2012 and was amongst The Advocate's Top 25 Most Notable Comings Out of 2012.[25]

He was named LGBTI Sports Person of the Year at the second annual GLOBE Community Awards in 2015. The awards recognise outstanding contributions and achievements in the LGBTI community in Victoria. He was also a finalist for LGBTI Person of the Year at the same event.[26]

Pop culture and news website Junkee included Ball in "The Disruptors", their list of thirty people "changing the game for young Australia". Other disruptors included Waleed Aly, Adam Goodes and Marita Cheng.[27] Ball was also featured in Executive Style magazine's list of "The 10 men who mattered in Australia in 2015".[28]

In May 2016 the University of Melbourne presented Ball with the Arts Alumni Rising Star Award recognising his "outstanding level of personal achievement and community involvement".[29] Further, the Council of Australian Humanist Societies honoured Jason's advocacy within mental health and LGBTI equality by naming him the Young Australian Humanist of the Year for 2016.[30]

In 2017 he was named the Young Australian of the Year for Victoria,[31] and received the Out Role Model Award in the inaugural Pride In Sport Awards.[32]

Political candidacy

On 10 August 2015, Ball announced that he was standing as the Greens candidate for the House of Representatives seat of Higgins at the 2016 Federal election, against Kelly O'Dwyer. He stated he wanted his campaign to focus on climate change, asylum seeker policy, science and mental health.[33]

The 2016 result in Higgins saw an 8.5% increase in the Greens vote, with a two party preferred outcome of 58% Liberal compared to 42% Greens.[34]

On 4 May 2018, Ball announced that he would re-contest the seat of Higgins at the 2019 Federal election.[35]

On 20 January 2019, Kelly O'Dwyer announced she would quit politics and not re-contest the seat of Higgins at the next election.[36] O'Dwyer was replaced by paediatrician Katie Allen on 24 February 2019.[37]

On 22 March 2019, the Labor Party replaced their Higgins candidate with high-profile barrister Fiona McLeod, following reports of polling that showed the Liberals could lose Higgins.[38][39]

The 2019 result in Higgins saw an 8.5% increase in Labor's vote and a 3.7% drop in the Liberal vote. The Greens vote decreased slightly by 1.7%. The two party preferred outcome was 54% Liberal compared to 46% Labor, with Katie Allen being elected as the new member for Higgins.[40]

References
  1. Stark, Jill (9 September 2012). "'I didn't know any footballers who were gay'". The Age. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  2. Howard, Jessica (9 April 2014). "AFL ready to embrace first openly gay player". The Age. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  3. Tomazin, Farrah (9 August 2015). "Coming out as Green: Jason Ball to contest blue-ribbon seat". The Age. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  4. Harris, Rob (5 April 2018). "Jason Ball set to tackle Kelly O'Dwyer at next federal election". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  5. Di Nuzzo, Rebecca (17 November 2016). "Jason Ball of South Yarra named Victoria's Young Australian of the Year". Stonnington Leader. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  6. Graham, Jessie (11 August 2015). "Progressive move into politics". Mountain Views Mail. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  7. Ball, Jason (15 April 2012), A Fresh Generation of Freethinkers is Among Us, Atheist Foundation of Australia, retrieved 16 August 2015
  8. "Gay footballer calls for AFL 'pride round'". ABC News. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  9. Garcia, Michelle (9 October 2012). "Aussie Footballer Comes Out, Encourages Gay Acceptance For League". The Advocate. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  10. Stark, Jill (21 September 2012). "Gay ads to air on AFL's big screens". The Age. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  11. Ainsworth, Michelle (4 February 2013). "AFL players join gay pride march for first time". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  12. Leach, Anna (11 January 2013). "Openly gay footballer to lead Pride parade in Melbourne". Gay Star News. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  13. Stark, Jill (5 March 2013). "AFL stars come out against gay slurs". The Age. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  14. Stark, Jill (3 May 2014). "The day football burst with Pride". Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  15. Stark, Jill (9 May 2015). "Homophobia in sport: Playing with pride and trying to change an attitude". The Age. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  16. "Pride Cup wins VicHealth Award". Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. 2 December 2015. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  17. Stark, Jill (2 August 2015). "St Kilda lobby AFL for gay pride game". The Age. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  18. Stark, Jill (29 October 2015). "St Kilda and Sydney to play AFL's first gay pride game". The Age. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  19. "Jason Ball Ambassador Profile". Beyond Blue. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  20. Ball, Jason (18 March 2016). ""You are loved, you are valued" Jason Ball's speech on Safe Schools". Star Observer. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  21. "Jason Ball". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  22. 2012 Global Atheist Convention Interview. Network 10. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  23. Ball, Jason (15 April 2012), A Fresh Generation of Freethinkers is Among Us, Atheist Foundation of Australia, retrieved 16 August 2015
  24. Zwartz, Barney (13 March 2010). "Atheist convention's first secular success". The Age. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  25. Anderson-Minshall, Diane (28 December 2012). "Year In Review 2012: 25 Most Notable Comings Out". The Advocate. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  26. "2015 GLOBE Community Awards announced". Australian Pride Network. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  27. "Thirty(-ish) People Who Are Changing The Game For Young Australia". Junkee. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  28. Russell, Stephen (21 December 2015). "The 10 men who mattered in Australia in 2015". Executive Style. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  29. "Celebrating our 2016 Alumni Award Winners". Articulation. Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  30. "Jason Ball awarded Young Australian Humanist of the Year". Humanists Australia. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  31. Di Nuzzo, Rebecca (17 November 2016). "Jason Ball of South Yarra named Victoria's Young Australian of the Year". Stonnington Leader. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  32. Wade, Matthew (19 May 2017). "Australia's Top Organisations For LGBTI Inclusion Announced". Star Observer. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  33. Davey, Melissa (15 August 2015). "Jason Ball says the Greens are 'in with a chance' against Liberal Kelly O'Dwyer". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  34. "AEC Tally Room -First preference count for the division of Higgins (VIC)". Archived from the original on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  35. Harris, Rob (5 April 2018). "Jason Ball set to tackle Kelly O'Dwyer at next federal election". Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  36. Conifer, Dan (20 January 2019). "Minister for Women Kelly O'Dwyer quitting federal politics in shock resignation". ABC. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  37. Carey, Adam (24 February 2019). "Ex-Prahran candidate Katie Allen wins Liberal preselection in Higgins". The Age. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  38. Martin, Lisa (22 March 2019). "Labor replaces Higgins candidate with high-profile barrister Fiona McLeod". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  39. "Higgins in Labor's grasp: Poll". The Australian. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  40. "AEC Tally Room - Higgins (VIC)". Retrieved 15 January 2020.
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