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.”
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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