Sports
Sentinels offer competition, camaraderie
Registration runs through Nov. 11 for gay basketball league
Darrien Smith and Bryce Roth, members of the D.C. Sentinels. (Darien Smith photo courtesy of Smith; Bryce Roth photo by Heather Pedersen)
There’s a common thread that runs through all the teams in the LGBT sports community of Washington — community.
This week in the Blade’s All Star series, we meet two gay basketball players who found their community with the D.C. Sentinels.
The Sentinels host an open gym for pick-up games up to two times per week for players of all skill levels. For those wishing to compete, they travel to three tournaments per year under the National Gay Basketball Association umbrella.
The Sentinels also run the Washington D.C. Gay Basketball League which is open for registration through Nov. 11. The upcoming season will kick off Jan. 3.
Darien Smith found the Sentinels through a Google search this past spring and showed up at one of their open gyms. Growing up in Clemson, S.C., he played basketball and ran track in high school. After a year at University of Miami, Smith transferred to Clemson University to finish up his undergraduate degree.
He is now a full-time student at University of Maryland pursuing his graduate degree in higher education with a concentration in student affairs. His decision to choose Maryland was based on the quality of their program and a desire to live in an urban area.
Shortly after joining the Sentinels, Smith traveled with them to his first tournament in May at Coady Roundball Philadelphia.
“It was my first gay tournament and the first time in a sports atmosphere where I didn’t have to hide my true self. It was empowering,” Smith says. “I thought I was prepared because I played travel ball and high school basketball when I was younger, but the competitive level of the tournament caught me off guard. It was intense.”
Smith traveled again with the team when they competed at the Minneapolis Classic in October and will enter their league for the first time in the upcoming season.
“This has been fun, and I am enjoying hanging out with my teammates and getting in some exercise,” Smith says. “In fact, I am loving it so much I have joined the board as social outreach chair and I look forward to planning our upcoming functions such as the Christmas party.”
Bryce Roth grew up in Oregon City, Ore., and was focused mainly on soccer playing two years JV and one year of varsity in high school. He found himself gravitating towards basketball and played intramurals while attending University of Oregon.
His older brother, who is also gay, was living in D.C. and Roth spent six summers here before transferring to Catholic University to finish his degree.
“My brother knew I was stagnant and struggling in Oregon, so I moved here and stayed with him for a couple years,” Roth says. “His ex played with the Sentinels, so I joined one of their first leagues.”
Now working as an office manager at a construction company, Roth took a few years off and is now back playing with the team and attended the same two tournaments as Darien Smith this year.
Along with Smith, he has also stepped into a leadership role with the Sentinels as their treasurer and will be playing in their upcoming league.
“This is a safe haven and I really like the camaraderie,” Roth says. “When you have the right balance of the competitive side along with the social aspect, it turns into a community.”
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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