Sports
D.C.-based gay rugby team draws diverse players
Local players Joshua Street, Shane Hickey find camaraderie in Washington Scandals
Joshua Street (Photo by Eric Brown)
This week in the continuing spotlight series on the LGBT sports community in Washington, we visit with two gay rugby players from the Washington Scandals.
The Scandals were formed in 2013 and have carved out a niche playing in weekend matches along with traveling to tournaments along the Eastern Seaboard. Next year they will attend their first match overseas when they journey to Bingham Cup 2018 in Amsterdam.
After graduating from Georgetown University, Joshua Street found himself settling into the routine of life after college. Work, gym and then home. It was a pattern he was looking to change.
He had heard good things about the Washington Scandals and signed up to play when he saw them at Capital Pride in 2016. He went through their conditioning first and then had an eye-opening visual at his first practice.
“I saw this really big guy tackle a small guy and I immediately wondered if a theater major should be attempting to fit into this culture,” Street says. “The team was super supportive and assured me that when I was ready, they would get me there.”
Street, who works in insurance and risk management, was born in Texas and grew up in Surinam, and Antigua and Barbuda with his Southern Baptist missionary parents. His athletic endeavors consisted of intramural soccer and volleyball.
His first rugby match with the Scandals was in Toronto and he says that it was a good learning experience and crash course into the sport of rugby.
“I tested everything that the Scandals had taught me, especially that you have to push through obstacles whether they are mental or physical,” Street says. “It was very satisfying to be able to put what I had learned in practice into a game situation and amazing to think that I was a rugby player.”
Since that first match in Toronto, Street has settled into the rugby community and has traveled with his teammates to Charleston, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Baltimore. He’s social chair for the Scandals and loves the way the gay rugby community pushes each other in a game then gets together socially afterwards.
“There is always trepidation before a game because you know you are going to take some hits. All the nerves end up falling away because all these cogs are in motion and working as a team,” Street says. “I have found what I was looking for with the Scandals by getting out of that daily routine and finding an incredible support system.”
As a young kid in Liverpool, N.Y., Shane Hickey tried multiple sports including cross-country running but never found one that he fell in love with. He took a break from sports activities while attending Georgetown University where he was active on the school newspaper.
His path changed after a Scandals player told him he looked like someone who could play rugby. He signed up to play in September of 2013 and found himself smitten.
“My first practice was on a Thursday and my first match was two days later. It was trial by fire and I fell in love immediately,” Hickey says. “Realizing that I had so much more to learn was both a thrill and a rush.”
Hickey, who works in interlibrary services at American University, wasn’t sure if he could handle the sport at first but after years of playing, he has found happiness in being part of the rugby community. He’s a co-captain and is in his third year as a Scandals board member.
“This environment creates a space that allows people to learn about themselves which is one of the reasons I continue to be involved,” Hickey says. “Playing other teams who are just like us is amazing and our tournaments and matches become weekend events.”
Hickey has also traveled extensively with the Scandals and says he will continue with the team even if he ever gets to a point where he can’t play anymore. He’s taking courses to become certified as a referee.
“I love rugby and I love the brotherhood. It has made me a lot more confident as a person and has become a huge focus in my life. All rugby, all the time,” Hickey says. “Another plus has been that the team has exposed me to the LGBT community.”
Shane Hickey (Photo by Eric Brown)
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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