Sports
Game Changers: Capital Tennis Assn.’s Shawn Stingel
‘It feels good to stay active, give back and make an impact’
This week in the Washington Blade Game Changers series, we meet an athlete with Capital Tennis Association who has taken the club to new heights regarding social responsibility.
Growing up in Smithfield, Va., Shawn Stingel discovered tennis by playing in the streets with his brother and friends. Inspired by Venus and Serena Williams, he tried out for his high school tennis team in Windsor, Va., and made the cut playing all four years.
Stingel only played recreationally while attending William & Mary but after graduating and arriving in Washington in 2005, he was eager to rejoin the sport with the Capital Tennis Association.
“I was looking to anchor myself in D.C. and discovering an LGBT-based team was a really comfortable feeling,” Stingel says. “I have met my best friends on the tennis court and being an out athlete has been part of my evolution as an adult. I wasn’t out when I was playing in high school.”
As Stingel became a better tennis player with the Association, he started becoming more involved in a leadership role. When he stepped into the role of social director for the club, he began looking for more diversity and recruitment of young athletes.
“We ramped up our social media, started attending mixers and increased our presence in the community,” Stingel says. “From my own perspective, I could see where I would have fit into all of that as a young adult as I wasn’t seen in high school. Young adults today want to be out and they want to play sports. They should be given spaces where they can be comfortable.”
Already active in LGBT community events, Stingel pushed for the Association to expand its social impact and branch into other communities.
“My agenda was to transcend the tennis court and also have a presence in heteronormative communities,” Stingel says. “I wanted to break down that barrier and allow diversity to thrive.”
Partnering with local organizations, Stingel created events surrounding Breast Cancer Awareness Month, organized CPR training for American Heart Month and helped coordinate the club’s Earth Day invitational while engaging local eco-friendly organizations to raise awareness for their efforts.
“Being progressive in our outreach lets our members know we are more than an LGBT tennis club,” Stingel says. “Creating awareness campaigns gives people exposure to these topics and starts a conversation that will affect change.”
As for his tennis career, Stingel was a doubles specialist for seven years with his playing partner Horatio Oliveira before segueing into a singles career.
Stingel, who works in IT at the Office of Air & Radiation for the Environmental Protection Agency, plays in leagues with the Capital Tennis Association and travels the country competing in tournaments on the Gay Lesbian Tennis Alliance World Tour.
He says his career highlight thus far was qualifying for the GLTA World Tour year-end championships in Prague in 2016. This weekend he will be playing in the Citrus Classic tournament in Tampa.
“I love the challenge and the competition. It brings me joy. We play at a lot of venues where I see older people still competing, so I don’t see myself stopping any time soon,” Stingel says. “It feels good to stay active, give back and make an impact.”
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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