Sports
An LGBT sports community emerges in Tel Aviv
Nascent league sees surge in players


Sagi Krispin helped organize the LGBT sports community in Tel Aviv. (Washington Blade photo by Kevin Majoros)
In 2014, Israel sent a delegation of eight athletes to the Gay Games in Cleveland/Akron that competed in several sports. The possibility of attending the event became a reality when the athletes received travel sponsorship and housing from the Jewish community in Cleveland. The Games would inspire one of the Israeli athletes, swimmer Sagi Krispin, to begin the process of forming an LGBT sports community in Tel Aviv.
“The Gay Games were my first LGBT sporting event and it was life changing for me,” says Krispin. “When I returned to Tel Aviv, I wanted more people to experience what I had just experienced.”
Tel Aviv has a thriving LGBT community and its recent Pride celebration, with the City of Tel Aviv as a major sponsor, drew more than 100,000 people along with 10,000 tourists.
The city has a dynamic LGBT nightlife, a supportive population and impressive cultural resources. One thing that was missing was an organized LGBT sports community.
“We wanted to build the sports community one step at a time and we started with the swim team, the TLV Nemos,” Krispin says. “We took eight swimmers to the 2015 EuroGames in Stockholm,which provided us with the opportunity to compete in relays. It was a great experience.”
The next steppingstone was to create the TLV LGBT Sports Club as an organization to oversee any new sports that would be formed in addition to joining international organizations such as the Federation of Gay Games, European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation and International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics. Krispin is now serving on the boards of all those entities.
Krispin didn’t play any sports himself while he was growing up in Yavne, Israel, but that all changed while he was attending Tel Aviv University.
“I learned how to swim when I was young but never thought I was good enough to play sports,” says Krispin. “While I was attending Tel Aviv University, it was required that you take courses in sports. I chose swimming and have been competing ever since.”
Earlier this year, a few Israeli athletes living in Madrid, Spain suggested that a tennis club be formed by holding a tournament in Tel Aviv. A group of Madrid tennis players agreed to organize the event and the Tel Aviv Open debuted in March of 2016.
The registration numbers were low at first, but a scholarship incentive was offered by Quang Nguyen of the Capital Tennis Association, which drew in more Tel Aviv players. A group of five players from D.C. traveled to the tournament, which is now a stop on the Gay & Lesbian Tennis Association’s world tour.
“It was very cool to be part of the first LGBT tennis tournament in the Middle East,” says Capital Tennis player Bud Rorison after attending the tournament. “Everyone had a great time and it resulted in some of the Israeli players attending the Madrid tournament.”
That fits right into the mission statement that was created when the TLV LGBT Sports Club was formed. Their mission is threefold and first is to build a community and build strength within the community to create a safe space. Second is to use their voice to fight against homophobia in sports. Third is to participate in tournaments locally and abroad.
Just last week, Krispin traveled to the IGLA World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, where he won one gold medal and two bronze medals. The group also recently presented an initiative to the Knesset (Israel’s unicameral parliament) regarding problems in LGBT sports along with ideas to correct them.
All of the momentum created by the sports club has resulted in a surge in athletes signing up to play. There are currently 45 swimmers, 20 tennis players and 20 basketball players including a women’s basketball group. Just over the past few weeks, a soccer team has emerged with 50 players.
Last month, the Federation of Gay Games announced 11 cities that were bidding for the 2022 Gay Games, including: Austin, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Cape Town, Guadalajara, Mexico, Hong Kong and Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv has decided to withdraw its bid due to the deadlines in submitting the application fees. They are still going to use their forward progress to create a sports tournament of their own called the Tel Aviv Tournament.
“We are in the planning stages of creating a multi-sport event in 2017 that would include swimming, tennis and basketball,” Krispin says. “Sports have such a powerful effect when you see so many people come together as a group. We want that to happen in Tel Aviv.”
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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