Sports
Tel Aviv Games for gay athletes slated for late March
Founder inspired by 2014 trip to Gay Games in Cleveland
A singular experience can sometimes change your life path. One lone swimmer from Israel traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to compete in the 2014 Gay Games. He was part of a group of eight Israeli athletes who made the trip halfway around the world to participate.
Exhilarated and wanting to share his experience, he returned to Tel Aviv and became involved in creating an organized LGBT sports community. When the Washington Blade caught up with Sagi Krispin in 2016, the TLV LGBT Sports Club was already a thriving entity.
Krispin wasn’t done though. In 2017, the Tel Aviv Games launched as a multisport biennial LGBT sports tournament. The first iteration included basketball, soccer, swimming and tennis.
The LGBT sports community in Tel Aviv has continued to grow and at the 2018 Paris Gay Games, 52 Israeli athletes competed in six sports including 22 participants in swimming.
The second edition of the Tel Aviv Games will be held from March 27-30 with road running, volleyball and same-sex dance being added to the previous roster of sports.
“This year’s TAG will be bigger, more visible and prouder,” says Krispin, head of the organizing committee. “There will also be more involvement from the local community outside of the sports community.”
With that in mind, they added venues around town and a Pride Run 5K/10K that will be open to anyone. Proceeds from the Pride Run will benefit a Tel Aviv youth organization, Israel Gay Youth.
“The people here are very committed to TAG,” Krispin says. “We have partnered with City Hall and will be hosting events there.”
Europe has a series of LGBT multisport events that are held in cities such as Vienna, Prague and Stuttgart. Most of the participants at the first Tel Aviv Games came from European countries.
“This time we are also expecting athletes from North America, Australia and Asia,” Krispin says. “We have a selling point that isn’t found in the other host cities. Europe will still be recovering from winter, but you can go to the beach in Tel Aviv in March. We are excited to welcome everyone.”
Never one to pass up an opportunity for sports and travel, the District of Columbia Aquatics Club is sending five swimmers to compete in the Tel Aviv Games.
John Tustin joined D.C. Aquatics in 2009 and has traveled extensively with the team. The competition in Tel Aviv will be a segue to stops in Jordan, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
“I have always wanted to go to these places as a tourist and it is nice to have a structured activity to go along with travel,” Tustin says. “The competition along with the events and parties gives you the opportunity to eat and hangout with locals. It makes it much easier to experience how they live.”
Tustin will be stopping in Jordan on his own before the competition and then will be joined by his teammates for the trips to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
“I am fine traveling independent, but it is nice combining travel with friends and teammates,” Tustin says. “Our common interest in swimming will enrich the experience of my vacation. I am excited to see the history of the area along with modern Israel.”
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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