Sports
Accolades and honors
Local gay sports league to present awards this weekend
Team D.C. Champions' 2011 honorees Brandon Waggoner, left, and Chris Cormier of the D.C. Gay Flag Football League. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
On Saturday, Team D.C. will host the 2011 Champions Awards which honors members of the LGBT sports community. The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the HRC building at 1640 Rhode Island Ave. Tickets are $40 and the event is open to the public. Ticket price includes an open bar, buffet and dessert bar.
Special guest speaker will be three time all-American wrestler and straight ally, Hudson Taylor who is the founder of the anti-homophobia campaign, Athlete Ally. The 2011 honorees are as follows Martin Espinoza of Stonewall Kickball (MVP Award), Chris Cormier of D.C. Gay Flag Football (MVP Award), Phil Piga and Tony Watkins of Anywhere Goes (Trailblazer Award), Brandon Waggoner of D.C. Gay Flag Football (Trailblazer Award) and Town Danceboutique (Community Support Award).
After the awards are presented, Team D.C. will be honoring its 2011 Student-Athlete Scholarship recipients. The scholarships are awarded to self-identified LGBT student-athletes who have made a contribution to their sport and as a result of their contributions and involvement, have enhanced the perception of the LGBT community.
The scholarship provides up to $2,000 per student and is awarded to graduating high school seniors or current college students from the Washington metropolitan area. Scholarship money is raised through Team D.C. fundraisers and donations from local LGBT sports teams.
The Team D.C. Student-Athlete Scholarship was the brainchild of former board member Greg Campbell and was one of the first of its kind in the United States when it was created in 2008. This year will be the fourth consecutive year that scholarships have been awarded. The 2011 recipients are:
Nate Eckland of Bethesda, Md., who graduated from Walt Whitman High School and captained the varsity coed volleyball team. He is attends Washington University in St Louis.
Justin Kanga of Silver Spring, Md., who graduated from Montgomery Blair High School and participated in varsity track and field and varsity diving. He attends the University of Maryland in College Park.
Jorge Acevedo of Arlington, Va., who graduated from Wakefield High School and participated in varsity swimming. He attends Northern Virginia Community College.
Back in April, Eckland told one of his teachers that he would be participating in the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) annual Day of Silence to protest bullying and harassment of LGBT students and their supporters. His teacher was aware of the scholarship and offered to be one of his sponsors. He is getting settled in at Washington University and hopes to check out intramural volleyball and flag football. Though he is still undecided as to his career path, he expressed an interest in psychology and the arts.
Acevedo has self-identified as gay since his freshman year of high school and has been blessed to be surrounded by an incredible group of friends who see him as a person and not just a gay man. He learned of the scholarship opportunity through his high school swim coach. He is also undecided as to a college major, but is interested in theater and psychology.
For more information on the Champions Awards and the Team DC Scholarship, go to teamdc.org.
Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.
Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”
Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.
FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”
Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.
“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”
“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.
“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.
The Baltimore Orioles will take on the Washington Nationals on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. for Pride Night at Oriole Park.
The first 15,000 fans will receive an exclusive Pride Night Orioles jersey. The Washington Blade is a media sponsor of this event.
To purchase tickets, visit Orioles.com/Tickets.
Sports
Minor league team in York, Pa., forfeits Pride Night game after some players refuse to wear special jersey
City is roughly 20 miles north of Md. border
An independent minor league baseball team says it is forfeiting a game because some of its players refused to wear a special Pride Night jersey.
The Atlantic League Pro Baseball’s York Revolution were planning to hold their 11th annual Pride Night event Thursday for a game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
But the Revolution announced the day of the game that it wouldn’t be played. York is about 20 miles north of the Maryland line. The Blue Crabs play in Waldorf.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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