Sports
Rookies & vets: Stonewall Kickball
League has D.C. tournament this weekend
Tarik Pierce says each Stonewall Kickball team has its own dynamic and personality. (Photo by John Jack Photography)
This week in the ongoing Washington Blade series on the rookies and veterans of the LGBT sports teams in D.C., we take a look at two gay athletes from Stonewall Kickball.
Three leagues from Stonewall Sports will come together to host the Stonewall Sports 2015 Summer Tournament this weekend which will be contested at multiple locations in D.C. and will feature players from the Stonewall expansion cities. Some 550 players will compete in three sports that will include 25 kickball teams, 10 dodgeball teams and 16 dart teams. About 100 spectator/friends will also be arriving in town to cheer the teams on.
Scott Rodney grew up in Massachusetts and south Florida and played soccer from middle school to high school along with playing on a travel team. He left sports behind while attending Tallahassee Community College and Florida State University.
While he was working as a manager at Olive Garden, he traveled to Annapolis to visit a friend and fell in love with D.C. He took a transfer with the restaurant chain and committed to one year of employment so they would pay his moving expenses.
He found himself playing in the Nakid Kickball league, a straight D.C. league, and in January of this year, a friend mentioned Stonewall Kickball and he went to a league mixer.
Rodney registered for the spring 2015 league and according to Stonewall rules, you have three weeks to find a place on a team or you become a free agent. He ended up on a team, the 21st Amendments, that is half veterans and half rookies.
“I was pretty shy at first, but the veterans were very welcoming and kept inviting me to all the activities,” Rodney says. “Every time I had a question about the rules, they were there to show me the ropes.”
Rodney says he definitely wants to become more involved in Stonewall and has already participated in the drag kickball event and the Queen drag competition between the teams at JR.’s.
Rodney is now working as an administrative assistant at a law firm and will be heading back to school this fall.
“I have never seen a community like what I have found at Stonewall,” Rodney says. “It really puts everything in perspective.”
Tarik Pierce only played little league baseball growing up in Florence, S.C. His extracurricular activity in high school was marching band and besides taking up running, he did not participate in sports at Clemson University.
His job with the Department of Commerce brought him to D.C. and he has since transitioned to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Living in D.C. has brought out Pierce’s sporty side and he is entrenched in the LGBT sports community having played in leagues for flag football, kickball, darts, bocce and dodgeball.
Pierce and a group of 20 friends were originally playing in the World Adult Kickball Association league until they began to experience gay slurs from the other players. In the spring of 2011, they took their team and headed to Stonewall Kickball, then in its second season.
“Stonewall is a little raucous, but there’s nothing like it,” Pierce says. “People come together every Sunday and each team has its own dynamic and personality.”
For Pierce, it wasn’t really a social outlet when he became a part of a team with 20 of his friends. It was just a new activity and he says it added a new dimension to their friendship and brought them closer together.
As the years progressed, Pierce found himself stepping forward as a leader. He is currently on the board of Stonewall Darts, is a division leader for Stonewall Dodgeball and along with playing, is an umpire for Stonewall Kickball. He’ll be in the tournament this weekend with his team, the Ballstars.
“It’s my theory that if you become a part of a community, at some point you should step forward as a leader,” Pierce says. “I make sure that my team is involved in the fundraisers and the charitable community support.”
Pierce has also shown his altruistic side by recently stepping aside as the captain of his kickball team.
“My focus is different because I want everyone to have the chance to have the experiences I have had,” Pierce says. “You shouldn’t keep taking away from something like this; you should give back to it.”
Scott Rodney says his teammates were very welcoming when he started in Stonewall Kickball. (Photo courtesy Rodney)
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
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