Sports
Countdown to the Games
Baltimore’s Burley has basketball bronze
Gerard Burley is approaching his second Gay Games with a different attitude. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
Editor’s note: Gerard Burley also writes a fitness column for Washington Blade.
Leading up to the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Gerard Burley was traveling through Europe working as a model and competing in a low-level professional basketball league.
Burley met up with his basketball teammates from the D.C. Sentinels in Cologne and together, they won a bronze medal. It was Burley’s first Gay Games and looking back on it, he says all his focus was on winning.
The D.C. Sentinels just wrapped up season two of the Washington, D.C. Gay Basketball League and used that momentum to claim the tournament title at the Coady Roundball Classic in Chicago earlier this month.
A Baltimore native, Burley’s sports background includes football, baseball and basketball. After competing on his high school’s baseball and basketball teams, he went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he played on the scrimmage team against the varsity players.
The path to becoming a formidable basketball player included some life lessons early on in Burley’s basketball career.
“One time at a game in high school, we lost 105 to 20,” says the 30-year old fitness coach. “It was horrible.”
A commissioner for the League, Burley remains dedicated to the sport of basketball for a number of reasons.
“I love being part of a team,” he says. “Also, basketball is a combination of so many skill sets such as quickness, strength and hand-foot coordination. It really keeps me motivated.”
In preparation for the 2014 Cleveland Gay Games this August, Burley will continue to play twice weekly with his Sentinel teammates and will include some additional training to be in peak form.
“I am also going to be competing in flag football at the Cleveland Games,” Burley says. “My extra preparation will focus on explosion training, biometric jumps and body work.”
Burley says he was wide-eyed at his first Gay Games in Cologne and he hopes to take in more of the overall experience this summer in Cleveland. His work as a fitness coach also shines through as he reflects on what he wants to accomplish in August.
“I have matured since the Cologne Games and plan to appreciate these Games more. My focus this time will be on meeting and enjoying people from all over the world. If you don’t win a medal but still have a six-pack at the end of it, then you have accomplished something, right? Plus, I am single this time so it’s game on.”
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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