Sports
New LGBT-inclusive rugby team forms in Baltimore
First match planned against Philadelphia Gryphons next month
The Baltimore Flamingos (Photo courtesy Arc Riley)
In July, some of the players traveling from outlying areas of D.C. to train with the Washington Scandals rugby team realized there was enough interest to try to form an LGBT-inclusive team in Baltimore.
After just two months of recruitment, skills clinics and social media outreach, the Baltimore Flamingos rugby team has emerged. Three of its new players partnered with the Washington Scandals and traveled to the recent Beaver Bowl in Toronto to gain tournament experience. Members say their name is a tip of the hat to John Waters (“Pink Flamingos”); their tag line is “fierce and filthy.”
Baltimore’s Ken Lentz scored his first try (grounding the ball in the opposition’s in-goal area) and the spark was ignited for the Flamingos to soldier onward. Next week 13 Flamingo players will partner with the newly formed Columbus Kodiaks to play as a team in the Queen City Crown in Charlotte, N.C.
At the end of October, they will play their first full-fledged match as a complete team when they travel north to take on the Philadelphia Gryphons. They currently have 23 players registered with USA Rugby and will increase that by the end of next month.
“This is something that has been missing in Baltimore and the timing was right. There were already LGBT-inclusive teams in Philly and D.C. and the interest was there to get this started,” says Darrell Coffey, president of the Flamingos. “It’s pretty incredible how far we have come in just a few short months. There has been a ton of support from the community.”
Coffey is one of the players that had been traveling down to D.C. to play with the Scandals. Previously living in Richmond, he moved to Baltimore in March to work at Hopkins in HR and recruitment and had no prior experience in rugby until he was introduced to the Scandals.
“When you have no history of athleticism, it can hold a person back,” Coffey says. “Most of our new players have no rugby experience and the camaraderie we have already established is palpable.”
Next month when they take on the Philadelphia Gryphons, they will be sporting new jerseys as a result of their crowdsourcing and support from the Baltimore Eagle and Grand Central Station. Recruitment efforts were assisted by coverage from the Pride Foundation of Maryland and the Third Half Online.
They are currently looking for a permanent coach, but in the meantime are benefitting from the expertise of Scandals founder Arc Riley.
Riley stepped in to lead the skills clinics and provide coaching for the new players along with bringing in members of the Scandals and the Gryphons to create scrimmages. The team is now practicing on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. at Druid Hill Park.
“When someone plays their first rugby match, a small percentage doesn’t show up again. The rest are hooked for life,” says Riley. “After that first match in Toronto, the Baltimore players came back energized and they haven’t missed a practice since.”
The Flamingos will be playing outside of a league and will be organizing games against other cities in the region and playing in tournaments. Riley is currently in talks to get another LGBT-inclusive team started in Pittsburgh.
“It takes a lot of guts to play rugby considering you are running and tackling without wearing protective gear,” Riley says. “The formation and group work leads to a level of brotherhood that is similar to a tribal warrior mentality. It really is like a family.”
Sports
Blade, Pride House LA announce 2028 Olympics partnership
Media sponsorship to amplify stories of LGBTQ athletes
The Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade on Friday announced a media partnership with the Out Athlete Fund, which will produce Pride House LA for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Pride House is the home for LGBTQ fans and athletes that will become a destination during the L.A. Summer Games in West Hollywood in partnership with the City of WeHo. This 17-day celebration for LGBTQ athletes and fans will include medal ceremonies for out athletes, interactive installations, speakers, concerts, and more.
The Los Angeles Blade will serve as the exclusive L.A.-area queer media sponsor for Pride House LA and the Washington Blade will support the efforts and amplify coverage of the 2028 Games.
The Blade will provide exclusive coverage of Pride House plans, including interviews with queer athletes and more. The parties will share content and social media posts raising awareness of the Blade and Out Athlete Fund. The Blade will have media credentials and VIP access for related events.
“We are excited to partner with the Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the United States and the Los Angeles Blade, already a strong supporter of Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA/West Hollywood,” said Michael Ferrera, CEO of Pride House LA. “Our mission is about increasing the visibility of LGBTQ+ athletes and fans to challenge the historical hostility toward our community in the sports world. Visibility is what publications like the Washington and Los Angeles publications are all about. We know they will play a key part in our success.”
“LGBTQ visibility has never been more important and we are thrilled to work with Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA to tell the stories of queer athletes and ensure the 2028 Summer Games are inclusive and affirming for everyone,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff.
Out Athlete Fund is a 501(c)3 designed to raise money to offset the training cost of out LGBTQ athletes in need of funding for training. The Washington Blade is the nation’s oldest LGBTQ news outlet; the Los Angeles Blade is its sister publication founded nine years ago.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are expected to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that open on Friday.
Outsports.com notes eight Americans — including speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy and figure skater Amber Glenn — are among the 44 openly LGBTQ athletes who will compete in the games. The LGBTQ sports website also reports Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports.com. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
McDermott-Mostowy is among the six athletes who have benefitted from the Out Athlete Fund, a group that has paid for their Olympics-related training and travel. The other beneficiaries are freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, speed skater Brittany Bowe, snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, and Paralympic Nordic skier Jake Adicoff.
Out Athlete Fund and Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood on Friday will host a free watch party for the opening ceremony.
“When athletes feel seen and accepted, they’re free to focus on their performance, not on hiding who they are,” Haley Caruso, vice president of the Out Athlete Fund’s board of directors, told the Los Angeles Blade.
Four Italian LGBTQ advocacy groups — Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano — have organized the games’ Pride House that will be located at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan.
Pride House on its website notes it will “host a diverse calendar of events and activities curated by associations, activists, and cultural organizations that share the values of Pride” during the games. These include an opening ceremony party at which Checcoro, Milan’s first LGBTQ chorus, will perform.
ILGA World, which is partnering with Pride House, is the co-sponsor of a Feb. 21 event that will focus on LGBTQ-inclusion in sports. Valentina Petrillo, a trans Paralympian, is among those will participate in a discussion that Simone Alliva, a journalist who writes for the Italian newspaper Domani, will moderate.
“The event explores inclusivity in sport — including amateur levels — with a focus on transgender people, highlighting the role of civil society, lived experiences, and the voices of athletes,” says Milano Pride on its website.
The games will take place against the backdrop of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in women’s sporting events.
President Donald Trump last February issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S. A group of Republican lawmakers in response to the directive demanded the International Olympics Committee ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
The IOC in 2021 adopted its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” that includes the following provisions:
• 3.1 Eligibility criteria should be established and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not systematically exclude athletes from competition based upon their gender identity, physical appearance and/or sex variations.
• 3.2 Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4 (“Fairness”, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity.
• 3.3 Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.
The 2034 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics will occur in Los Angeles.
Sports
‘Heated Rivalry’ stars to participate in Olympic torch relay
Games to take place next month in Italy
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will participate in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place next month in Italy.
HBO Max, which distributes “Heated Rivalry” in the U.S., made the announcement on Thursday in a press release.
The games will take place in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6-22. The HBO Max announcement did not specifically say when Williams and Storrie will participate in the torch relay.
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