Sports
All stars spotlight: Stonewall Dodgeball
Local player finds career parallels in recreational league
Mark Covington, left, and Derek Jansante. (Photos courtesy the subjects)
This week in the ongoing All-Star series on the LGBT sports community, we meet two long-time Stonewall Dodgeball players.
Stonewall Dodgeball launched in the spring of 2014 and is currently running multiple seasons of its league at the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center. Its winter season will kick-off Jan. 21 and this weekend members will field teams at the Sin City Classic in Las Vegas.
Mark Covington didn’t play sports growing up in Winston-Salem, N.C. He says he was a big musical theater nerd all the way through receiving his first degree at Wake Forest University. He moved to D.C. in 2014 and a friend suggested he give dodgeball a try.
“Dodgeball can be a tough space and it takes a lot of courage for a black LGBT man to maneuver through it. Even though I am one of a very few, I have found acceptance and have learned a lot about the community,” Covington says. “I come from a small town and it feels great to be out and proud in this space. It normalizes everything.”
Covington received his graduate degree from George Washington and is working in mental health counseling. After four years of playing dodgeball he has found a correlation between his profession and his sport.
“Dodgeball is very fast and it keeps you on your toes. You always have to know where the ball is, and which way people are moving,” Covington says. “I develop awareness with my clients, so it fits in with my work and forces me to be present.”
He is currently working on his Ph.D. at George Washington University and often leans on his fellow players as a source of support.
“I have met a lot of new friends and developed friendships that help me get through life,” Covington says. “I am still learning how to be comfortable in my own skin.”
Derek Jansante had a decision to make when facing his college path. He had an opportunity to play college baseball as a pitcher at a Division III university, but was uncertain that he would be accepted in a rural setting as a gay athlete. Jansante decided instead to attend Stetson University with the hope of being himself.
Growing up in Bentleyville, Pa., Jansante played sports year round including baseball, basketball and golf in high school. While he was at Stetson, he served as student body president and played intramural volleyball, dodgeball and baseball.
He moved to D.C. in 2011 to work with the Victory Fund and joined Stonewall Dodgeball in its first season as a free agent. Along the way he has also played with Stonewall Kickball and the D.C. Gay Flag Football League.
“Throwing hard in a small space is one of the skills I acquired from being a baseball pitcher,” Jansante says. “Playing dodgeball allows me to tap into that skillset.”
Jansante is now working as an academic advisor at American University and wrapped up his graduate work at George Washington University in 2016. His love for his sport almost interrupted that path.
“I love dodgeball so much, that I almost took a semester off grad school to play,” Jansante says. “There is broad acceptance and an incredible community aspect. My dodgeball teammates are my best friends.”
Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.
Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”
Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.
FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”
Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.
“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”
“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.
“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.
The Baltimore Orioles will take on the Washington Nationals on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. for Pride Night at Oriole Park.
The first 15,000 fans will receive an exclusive Pride Night Orioles jersey. The Washington Blade is a media sponsor of this event.
To purchase tickets, visit Orioles.com/Tickets.
Sports
Minor league team in York, Pa., forfeits Pride Night game after some players refuse to wear special jersey
City is roughly 20 miles north of Md. border
An independent minor league baseball team says it is forfeiting a game because some of its players refused to wear a special Pride Night jersey.
The Atlantic League Pro Baseball’s York Revolution were planning to hold their 11th annual Pride Night event Thursday for a game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
But the Revolution announced the day of the game that it wouldn’t be played. York is about 20 miles north of the Maryland line. The Blue Crabs play in Waldorf.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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