The John Blankenstein Foundation celebrated its 12th anniversary on Friday, 18 December. Twelve years ago, Karin Blankenstein, together with Jip van Leeuwen and Henk Gregoire (who sadly passed away a few years ago) established the John Blankenstein Foundation on 18 December 2008. This foundation was set up to promote LGBT acceptance in sport and has since made the issue much more open to discussion.

Many more volunteers have since joined this trio, and the drinks reception with board members and volunteers was attended by a total of 13 people (+2 volunteers who unfortunately could not be present). Over the past year, this has resulted in 39 more workshops given, mostly online. A number that the John Blankenstein Foundation could only dream of in its early years. After a lot of lobbying in the early years and local workshops, we have now visited all professional football clubs and have also been active in many other sports such as basketball, korfball, handball and hockey. We could not have dreamed of this success, which includes the Alliance matches and now has a name that is known to so many sports associations and people. Slowly but surely, sport is becoming truly inclusive for everyone, and sports clubs, administrators, local authorities, coaches and other athletes are becoming more aware of the importance of this and that it is still not a matter of course for many LGBTI+ athletes.

After a lovely speech by the chairperson, a toast was made and a pub quiz was played. The new volunteers learned a lot about the history of the JBF, LGBTI+ flags, other sports, general knowledge and facts about the year 2020. It was a pleasant online gathering where, of course, everyone expressed how much they missed being together this year. With great pride, we raised our glasses once again and shared anecdotes about the early years and the successful years that followed. The all together challenge from last week with the shirts at Telstar and high visibility, throughout professional football and in the media, is the crowning glory of our work over the past few years. At the same time, it gives us the energy to continue fighting for a sporting world that is truly inclusive everywhere! We would like to thank all our partners, followers and athletes for the pleasant cooperation and wish everyone a healthy and happy holiday season. We hope to see you again on or around the sports field in 2021!