Sports
Tournament time
Players from Philadelphia, Cleveland, et. al. expected in D.C.
Players from many different sports will gather this weekend in Washington for the Stonewall Sports National Tournament. D.C. members, seen here, are active in the LGBT sports world. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The fourth annual Stonewall Sports National Tournament will be held this weekend at locations throughout D.C. including the National Mall. Along with sports tournaments in kickball, dodgeball and volleyball, a full schedule is planned with social activities, leadership meetings, Stonewall Yoga, Stonewall Bocce pick-up games and pool parties.
The Stonewall Sports model has spread to 11 cities in the United States and close to 1,000 competitors from those cities will be in attendance for the tournaments. Non-participant passes are also available for those who want to join in on the festivities.
Since its inception in 2010, D.C.–based Stonewall Sports has provided sports leagues that are managed as a nonprofit with a philanthropic heart by creating organized communities that have the ability and responsibility to support others in need.
“In addition to the sports competitions, the National Tournament brings together our Stonewall community from across the country to address issues in person,” says James O’Leary, vice president of Stonewall Sports. “We will hold our annual meeting with workshops on the technical aspects of community building and programming along with having conversations about safe spaces, diversity, public health and inclusion.”
The safe spaces that once existed within the LGBT community have evolved and Stonewall Sports has established a national network that allows for like-minded people to connect.
“The National Tournament is a chance for all of the Stonewall cities to get together and talk about our vision and the avenues to reach our community,” O’Leary says. “We have established a network of people that have a similar path.”
Stonewall Philadelphia joined the Stonewall community in 2014 and its members have seen incredible expansion in their sports and numbers. Currently boasting over 1,200 participants, they offer kickball, dodgeball, volleyball, sand volleyball, billiards, yoga and bowling. They have donated about $100,000 to local charities since their inception.
“When I first started playing, I immediately began meeting a lot people who I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” says Stonewall Philadelphia Commissioner Joe Peltzer. “It’s a great opportunity to have fun, establish connections and raise money for charities. I love watching our players jumping into different friend groups.”
Peltzer says that the Philadelphia players are really looking forward to building new connections from other cities and that the teams are melding together to come to the tournament. They will be sending about eight teams to compete in kickball and dodgeball.
“The tournament is about competitive play, but we also look forward to the camaraderie and learning about what other cities are doing,” Peltzer says. “It elevates it above what is going on in your own little bubble.”
In the fall of 2015, Stonewall Cleveland launched its kickball league, which was immediately followed by the addition of dodgeball. The two leagues have about 465 players and in two weeks they will be joined by an additional 165 players in their inaugural bocce season.
“After launching, we were plugged in instantly to several hundred people of varying age groups,” says Taylor Henschel, co-commissioner of Stonewall Cleveland. “This is more than an LGBT community. It’s place making; creating intentional communities by drawing in your own people along with other people.”
Cleveland is a sprawling city and Henschel says it is easy to get stuck in your local sector. The Stonewall model has helped to connect people from the widespread areas. They will be sending five teams to the National Tournament.
“The value of this network is something larger than yourself. It gives life purpose,” Henschel says. “Meeting people from all over the country is a reminder that we are part of this enormous community of queer people. It’s pretty profound.”
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
Italy
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
Italy lags behind other European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights
The four Italian advocacy groups behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ Pride House hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.
Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano organized the Pride House that is located in Milan’s MEET Digital Culture Center. The Washington Blade on Feb. 5 interviewed Pride House Project Manager Joseph Naklé.
Naklé in 2020 founded Peacox Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. He also carried the Olympic torch through Milan shortly before he spoke with the Blade. (“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie last month participated in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region.)
Naklé said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “actually our main objective.”
ILGA-Europe in its Rainbow Map 2025 notes same-sex couples lack full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy does ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s nondiscrimination laws do not include gender identity.
ILGA-Europe has made the following recommendations “in order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Italy.”
• Marriage equality for same-sex couples
• Depathologization of trans identities
• Automatic co-parent recognition available for all couples
“We are not really known to be the most openly LGBT-friendly country,” Naklé told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important for the community.”
“We want to use the Olympic games — because there is a big media attention — and we want to use this media attention to raise the voice,” he added.
Naklé noted Pride House will host “talks and roundtables every night” during the games that will focus on a variety of topics that include transgender and nonbinary people in sports and AI. Another will focus on what Naklé described to the Blade as “the importance of political movements now to fight for our rights, especially in places such as Italy or the U.S. where we are going backwards, and not forwards.”
Seven LGBTQ Olympians — Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricket player Nikki Symmons — are scheduled to participate in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on Feb. 14.
Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood representatives are expected to speak at Pride House on Feb. 21.
The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary about Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will screen later this year in Milan. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood is also planning to show the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Naklé also noted Pride House has launched an initiative that allows LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members are either migrants from African and Islamic countries or people with disabilities.
“The objective is to show that sports is the bridge between these communities,” he said.
Bisexual US skier wins gold
Naklé spoke with the Blade a day before the games opened. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will close on Feb. 22.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing in the games.
Breezy Johnson, an American alpine skier who identifies as bisexual, on Sunday won a gold medal in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, on the same day helped the U.S. win a gold medal in team figure skating.
Glenn said she received threats on social media after she told reporters during a pre-Olympics press conference that LGBTQ Americans are having a “hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. The Associated Press notes Glenn wore a Pride pin on her jacket during Sunday’s medal ceremony.
“I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me and speaking about being decent — human rights and decency,” said Glenn, according to the AP. “So that was really disappointing, and I do think it kind of lowered that excitement for this.”
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
CMS moves to expand HIV-positive organ transplants
Shooter who killed 7 people inside Canada school was transgender
Russia’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown takes absurd turn
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
As Oscars approach, it’s time to embrace ‘KPop Demon Hunters’
PHOTOS: Drag in rural Virginia
New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures
I keep getting rejected on the apps
Pride flag removed from Stonewall Monument as Trump targets LGBTQ landmarks
