Sports
Rookies and vets: CAPS edition
Local gay softball teams welcome new players


Chris Ryon, left, and Billy Sanchez, a vet and rookie respectively in the Chesapeake and Potomac Softball League. (Photos courtesy the players)
In the continuing Blade series on the rookies and veterans of the LGBT sports teams in Washington, two players from the Chesapeake and Potomac Softball League step up to the plate.
Spring season ball started last weekend for the players and registration is now open for the summer league. This August, the League is expecting to send five teams to the Gay Softball World Series in Columbus, Ohio.
Softball player Glenn Conklin points to two athletes who exemplify the type of players the league is proud to spotlight.
“Billy Sanchez is a new player that has infused so much enthusiasm into his team that he has reminded us about having fun with the game,” Conklin says. “Chris Ryon is a long-time player who fosters relationships with rookie athletes to encourage them to stay in the sport and advance to more competitive divisions.”
Sanchez grew up in California and began playing baseball for a travel team at age 7. He dropped the sport in high school because he was gay.
“I went to a Catholic high school and there was an incident in the locker room with a gay basketball player,” Sanchez says. “The desire to play was still there, but the obstacles felt too big.”
It was especially disappointing for Sanchez because baseball was something he shared with his father.
After he settled into his career as a behavioral therapist, Sanchez began taking his students to baseball games as part of the curriculum. The urge to play again crept into his head and after moving to D.C. with his partner, he happened to be at Nellie’s while the league was having its season kick-off party.
Sanchez was too late to join that season so he waited for the launch of the summer 2014 season.
“When I started playing and realized I could still do this, it was absolutely phenomenal,” says Sanchez, who is 30 and plays shortstop. “I could still hear my father in my ear giving me tips.”
Sanchez had his partner film some footage of him playing to send to his dad in California who responded with some familiar critiques, telling him he was making the same mistakes he made as a kid.
That was a great moment for Sanchez as it felt good to rebuild that part of their relationship. His family even drove out for Sanchez’s first softball tournament with his D.C. teammates in Las Vegas last January at the Sin City Shootout.
Sanchez noticed in his first season that the veteran players had a dominant presence and he found himself asking a lot of questions to help build similar relationships with the other players.
“It feels good to be competitive again,” Sanchez says. “I love the team comraderie. This feels like a big family.”
Chris Ryon grew up in Northern Virginia and played every sport he could get his hands on including tennis, soccer, track & field and swimming. Two sports missing from his list were baseball and softball.
He dropped out of sports after college and something clicked in him when he came out at age 27.
“I was looking for something and realized that sports had been such a big part of my life,” Ryon says. “I had no gay experience and no softball experience, so I joined the league in 2006.”
Ryon had always liked watching baseball, but found out that he was pretty lousy at playing.
“I could catch and run,” Ryon says, “but I was lucky if any of my ground balls made it out of the infield.”
His answer to that was to spend a lot time keeping score for other teams and reading baseball literature such as the book from legendary baseball player Ted Williams on the science of hitting.
Ryon ended up leaving the LGBT league and joining a straight league, the D.C. Think Tank League. He found their league to be boring and he returned to Chesapeake and Potomac Softball where he formed his own team.
Now in his 10th year as a softball player, the 37 year-old athlete, who is employed in network tech support, has found his niche in the LGBT softball community.
“If I see a player who is struggling, I will offer tips,” Ryon says. “The details are what make for better softball.”
Tournament action started for Ryon five years ago and he is hooked on what they have to offer. He has traveled to multiple cities including Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and the 2014 Cleveland/Akron Gay Games.
In the past few years, his improvement on the field has led to two tournament titles and three second place finishes.
“Playing for so many years, it was great to finally win one. I love the tournaments because you get to play all day,” says Ryon, who plays second base. “Winning is a mindset as much as it is an ability. Every play can change a game.”
Recently, the veteran asked the rookie to join his travel team for the upcoming Philadelphia tournament.
“I have seen how Sanchez plays; he has a great arm,” Ryon says. “Playing with new players improves everyone’s abilities.”
Sports
English soccer bans transgender women from women’s teams
British Supreme Court last month ruled legal definition of woman limited to ‘biological women’

The organization that governs English soccer on Thursday announced it will no longer allow transgender women to play on women’s teams.
The British Supreme Court on April 16 ruled the legal definition of a woman is limited to “biological women” and does not include trans women. The Football Association’s announcement, which cites the ruling, notes its new policy will take effect on June 1.
“As the governing body of the national sport, our role is to make football accessible to as many people as possible, operating within the law and international football policy defined by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) and FIFA,” said the Football Association in a statement that announced the policy change. “Our current policy, which allows transgender women to participate in the women’s game, was based on this principle and supported by expert legal advice.”
“This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary,” added the Football Association.
The Football Association also acknowledged the new policy “will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify.”
“We are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game,” it said.
The Football Association told the BBC there were “fewer than 30 transgender women registered among millions of amateur players” and there are “no registered transgender women in the professional game” in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The Scottish Football Association, which governs soccer in Scotland, is expected to also ban trans women from women’s teams.

FIFA has announced Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup, despite concerns over its human rights record that includes the death penalty for homosexuality.
The Associated Press reported FIFA confirmed the decision on Dec. 18. The AP noted Saudi Arabia is the only country that bid to host the 2034 World Cup.
“This is a historic moment for Saudi Arabia and a dream come true for all our 32 million people who simply love the game,” said Sport Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al- Faisal, who is also president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, in a statement the Saudi Press Agency posted to its website.
Saudi Arabia is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
A U.S. intelligence report concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “likely approved” the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. A federal judge in 2022 dismissed a lawsuit against Prince Mohammed after the Biden-Harris administration said he was immune to the lawsuit because he is the country’s prime minister.
Human rights activists have also criticized the Saudi government over the treatment of women, migrant workers, and other groups in the country.
“No one should be surprised by this,” Cyd Zeigler, Jr., co-founder of Outsports.com, an LGBTQ sports website, told the Washington Blade in an email after FIFA confirmed Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. “FIFA, the International Olympic Committee, and many other world governing bodies routinely turn to authoritarian countries with terrible human-rights records to host major sporting events. There are simply few other countries willing to spend the billions of dollars it takes to build the needed infrastructure.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, in a statement described FIFA’s decision as “a betrayal of the values that football should stand for: Inclusivity, fairness, and respect for human rights.”
“This is not about football; it’s about sportswashing,” said Tatchell. “The Saudi regime is using the World Cup to launder its international image and distract from its brutal abuses. By granting them this platform, FIFA is complicit in whitewashing their crimes.”
Qatar, which borders Saudi Arabia, hosted the 2022 World Cup.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in Qatar.
“Saudi Arabia was the only country to bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup,” said Zeigler. “So, until FIFA, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and other governing bodies ban major human-rights violators from hosting, we’ll continue to see events like this in Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar, and other countries with terrible LGBTQ rights issues.”
The Blade has reached out to FIFA and the Saudi government for comment.
Sports
Controversy grows over member of Calif. university’s women’s volleyball team
Coach suspended, NCAA sued, more rivals forfeit

San Jose State University’s women volleyball team has collected yet another W by forfeit — its seventh so far this season — as controversy swirls around one player on its roster. She’s one of the seniors, and she has been dragged in the media by her own co-captain, who outed her as transgender.
The Washington Blade is not naming this student athlete since neither she nor the school have confirmed or even commented on her gender identity.
SJSU visited San Diego last weekend for a match before the Aztecs’ biggest home crowd of the season — including protesters waving “Save Women’s Sports” banners and booing one player on the Spartans team in particular: The woman who is reported to be trans.
Security was tight, with metal detectors and extra guards and police officers present. Video posted to YouTube by a right-wing sports media site — which names the player — shows an angry fan arguing with security about his First Amendment rights.
Video recorded during Nov. 9’s game shows a player for San Diego was injured following a spike by the player rumored to be trans, and had to be helped off the court. However, the video clearly shows that player was injured by landing poorly on one foot, not as a result of the spike.
The Aztecs defeated the Spartans 3-1, but San Jose has still punched its ticket to the conference finals, thanks to its record number of forfeits.
Wyoming was set to visit SJSU Thursday, but for the second time is joining other universities that have forfeited games against the Spartans, all without providing a reason. Boise State announced it will forfeit an upcoming match set for Nov. 21, its second forfeit against SJSU.
In September, the Spartans’ co-captain, senior Brooke Slusser, outed her own teammate, the player at the center of this controversy, in joining a federal lawsuit against the NCAA spearheaded by anti-trans inclusion activist and former college athlete Riley Gaines.
Slusser said in the lawsuit and in subsequent interviews that the player in question shouldn’t be on her team. The suit claims the NCAA’s policy on trans athletes violates Title IX by allowing “men” to compete in women’s sports and use women’s locker rooms where they display “full male genitalia.”
The NCAA policy for trans athletes participating in women’s volleyball aligns with that of USA Volleyball, which requires trans female athletes to suppress their testosterone below 10 nmol/L for a period of one year before competition. That is also how the NCAA determines eligibility. SJSU has stated repeatedly that all its players are eligible.
The lawsuit also asks the NCAA to revoke any titles or records won by trans female athletes in women’s competitions, which seems to be specifically aimed at stripping out trans NCAA champions Lia Thomas and CeCé Telfer of their titles in swimming and track and field, respectively.
Prior to this season, the player rumored to be trans did not attract any attention other than being a successful starter, like Slusser. But now that she is in the media spotlight, Slusser has come forward to tell right wing media, including Megyn Kelly, why she feels another woman two inches taller than she is poses a danger.
“I don’t feel safe,” Slusser said on “The Megyn Kelly Show” last month. “I’ve gone to my coaches and said I refuse to play against [her] … It’s not safe.”
In the video, both Kelly and Slusser refer to the player as “him” and a “man,” and name her.
Now comes another twist: San Jose State University suspended associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose with pay, indefinitely, after she filed a Title IX complaint against SJSU. She claims the player Slusser identified as trans conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure Slusser. Batie-Smoose named the player in question in her complaint and on Sept. 23, joined the same lawsuit that Slusser is now a part of.
“Safety is being taken away from women,” Batie-Smoose told Fox News. “Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now will be forever changed.”
Media reporting on the suspension, including Fox News, continue to name the athlete in question, with some also reporting what they say is the athlete’s birth name.
San Jose State released a statement following the suspension of Batie-Smoose: “The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter,” the team said.
SJSU Coach Todd Kress told ESPN that reports saying that any member of the Spartans colluded with their opponent are “littered with lies.”
The Spartans are currently among the top six finishers in the Mountain West Conference that will qualify to compete in the conference tournament scheduled for Nov. 27-30.
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