Sports
Game Changers: D.C. Gaymers
Video games popular among D.C.-area queer residents
The LGBTQ gaming community in Washington has grown to a point where the need arose to distinguish between casual gamers and hardcore gamers.
This week in the Blade’s Game Changers series, we meet the leader of D.C. Gaymers and the newly minted Rogue eSports.
D.C. Gaymers began as a Meetup group back in 2016 and they were meeting every three months at someone’s house to play video games.
Miguel Miranda took over their leadership in 2017 and moved the group to Cobalt where he created an LGBTQ-focused gaming venture that met once a month on Tuesday nights.
Their numbers grew quickly to 80 people and they switched to a biweekly schedule to accommodate the growing interest. They began offering more events and systems including PlayStation, Wii, GameCube, Xbox, handheld games on iPads, board games and card games.
“Gamers are self-labeled as introverts, people who avoid crowds and people who stay behind the scenes,” Miranda says. “Over time I discovered that there are a lot of gamers who share my desire to make real-life connections and friendships.”
Miranda was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Providence, R.I. He received his environmental engineering degrees from University of New Hampshire and Virginia Tech. He followed his husband Oscar to the D.C. area and is employed as an engineer at a wastewater treatment plant.
“I grew up in a very religious household and video games were an escape from reality for me. I was my happiest when I was behind the screen,” Miranda says. “I get a different enjoyment from them now because I have recognized that there is a need for this gaming community. My husband isn’t a gamer, but he supports my addiction.”
Miranda says many players have told him they feel nervous telling other adults they’re gamers because there’s still a stigma that gaming isn’t socially acceptable for adults.
“People want a safe space where they can be nerds and be themselves,” Miranda says. “It’s been rewarding to watch people step in as greeters, come out of their shells and connect to other like-minded individuals. It can often be one step at a time.”
Miranda noticed that the hardcore gamers weren’t coming as often to the casual Tuesday game nights. To keep them engaged, D.C. Gaymers introduced Super Smash Bros. and Mario Bros. on Saturdays once a month.
“Two different personalities emerged — casual and competitive,” Miranda says. “With the closing of Cobalt, we moved over to Uproar in February and decided to create a second group.”
Rogue eSports will launch March 17 as a 10-week competitive league that plays bi-weekly on Tuesday nights at Uproar. Their list of games include Overwatch, Super Smash Bros., Hearthstone and Mortal Kombat.
As this new venture plays out for local LGBTQ gamers, Miranda already has an eye on reaching another part of the community. He has doing outreach at events such as Awesome Con, MAGFest and Blerdcon and can visualize another direction.
“I eventually want to find a space for LGBTQ gamers who are under 21. Gaming can be a powerful tool for teenagers coping with hardships,” Miranda says. “I am hoping to build a community where young gamers can feel safe and make human connections.”
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.
Sports
Jason Collins dies at 47
First openly gay man to actively play for major sports team battled brain cancer
Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to actively play for a major professional sports team, died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 47.
The California native had briefly played for the Washington Wizards in 2013 before coming out in a Sports Illustrated op-ed.
Collins in 2014 became the first openly gay man to play in a game for a major American professional sports league when he played 11 minutes during a Brooklyn Nets game. He wore jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student murdered outside of Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.
Collins told the Washington Blade in 2014 that his life was “exponentially better” since he came out. Collins the same year retired from the National Basketball Association after 13 seasons.
Collins married his husband, Brunson Green, in May 2025.
The NBA last September announced Collins had begun treatment for a brain tumor. Collins on Dec. 11, 2025, announced he had Stage 4 glioblastoma.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” said Collins’s family in a statement the NBA released. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Collins’s “impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA, and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations.”
“He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador,” said Silver. “Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.”
“To call Jason Collins a groundbreaking figure for our community is simply inadequate. We truly lost a giant today,” added Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement. “He came out as gay — while still playing — at a time when men’s athletes simply did not do that. But as he powerfully demonstrated in his final years in the league and his post-NBA career, stepping forward as he did boldly changed the conversation.”
“He was and will always be a legend for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are heartbroken to hear of his passing at the young age of 47,” she said. “Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We will keep fighting on in his honor until the day everyone can be who they are on their terms.”
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