10 Inspirg Gay Rugby Players and Personali

Contents:

• NASHVILLE’S GAY RUGBY TEAM STRIPS DOWN, SHOWERS UP FOR 2016 CALENDAR: PHOTOS
• HEARD OF THE STEELERS? NO, NOT THEM, THE GAY GBY TEAM OM LONDON
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• GAY CISG SPOTS
• GAY PHOENIX

NASHVILLE’S GAY RUGBY TEAM STRIPS DOWN, SHOWERS UP FOR 2016 CALENDAR: PHOTOS

A 2021 study that surveyed nearly 9, 500 people om six untri, cludg the Uned Stat, found that 82% of lbian, gay and bisexual participants “said they have wnsed or experienced homophobia sport. The Cact Ci Softball League and the Arizona Gay Volleyball League reprented Arizona at this year’s petn.

“There was a time if you were gay, you uldn’t play on teams, ” said Terry Woodfield, a player and former manager the CCSL. The Cact Ci Softball League was created 29 years ago to provi a safe space for LGBTQ+ dividuals to play softball and is part of the Natnal Associatn for Gay Amatr Athletic Alliance.

“For a lot of people – me clud – the Phoenix Storm was like their first volvement wh the gay muny.

HEARD OF THE STEELERS? NO, NOT THEM, THE GAY GBY TEAM OM LONDON

And we get a lot of people who have never been on a gay team before. “It’s not that they’ve never met another gay person, but they’ve never belonged to another LGBTQ group where they uld be themselv, where everyone is acceptg and you don’t need to really expla who you are. The Storm is part of the Internatnal Gay Rugby Associatn, however the team tri to go beyond sexualy and genr and be all-clive.

A 2021 study entled “Out On The Fields” that surveyed nearly 9, 500 people om six untri, cludg the Uned Stat, found that 82% of lbian, gay and bisexual participants “said they have wnsed or experienced homophobia sport. WE ARE an all-male clothg optnal bed and breakfast retreat terg to gay, bi, and straight men 21 years or olr.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

As did last year, the Nashville Grizzli gay and clive gby team jt released s 2016 fundraisg lendar and the gby beef is on display aga to raise money for the team and their hostg of next year's Bgham Cup! “We were found 2006 and are the only gay and clive gby team Nashville. RELATED: USA Rugby and Int'l Gay Rugby Sign Agreement to Rid the Sport of Homophobia.

“We will host the Bgham Cup, world champnship of gay gby, here Nashville May 2016. Named after Mark Bgham, who died the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bgham Cup is the biggt tournament the world for gay and clive teams and this will be the first year has been hosted the South. RELATED: Keegan Hirst Be First Brish Pro Rugby League Player to Come Out as Gay: ‘Now I Feel Free'.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

And Don't Miss Last Year's Hotns: Nashville's Gay Rugby Team Gets Wet, Muddy, and Shirtls for New Calendar: PHOTOS. As Towleroad reported earlier this year, USA Rugby, the natnal erng body for the sport of gby unn the Uned Stat, has signed “a memorandum of unrstandg” wh Internatnal Gay Rugby ahead of next year's Bgham Cup Nashville.

Acrdg to Arizona’s Hip Historian Marshall Shore, who has lived Phoenix sce before the cy had a "gayborhood,” the regn's LGBTQ+ history dat back to First Natn's people and the ia of two spirs. The days, everyone knows what a gayborhood is and where to fd one — even Phoenix.

What distguish this gayborhood is the inic Melrose Arch, one of Phoenix's two rabow crosswalks, a larger-than-life rabow mural on the si of Stacy's @ Melrose (don't miss this photo op), s annual street fair and, of urse, the welg atmosphere. Corona Ranch and Roo Grounds was home to Arizona's first gay roo 1984, and at the time, Arizona was only the fifth state to host an event of this kd.

GAY CISG SPOTS

The Arizona Gay Roo Associatn, which was one of the foundg members of the Internatnal Gay Roo Associatn, is still gog strong 30-pl years later. At the same time the Arizona Gay Roo began, John Kg and Kenny Cunz opened Charlie's Phoenix, a untry-themed gay bar Phoenix's Melrose District. Phoenix has a history of hostg gay pri-themed events that predate the Phoenix Pri anizatn we know today.

GAY PHOENIX

In June 1977, the cy's first gay pri week was anized by the cy’s LGBTQ+ muny at the time and,  1981, the first pri para took to the streets. This hip, historic neighborhood near downtown was Phoenix's first and, perhaps only, "gay ghetto." In the 1970s, middle class gay whe men began movg to the area and renovated many of the midcentury hom. Niamh LewisMar 1, 2021, 09:52 AM ETWhen Eammon Ashton-Atkson, an Atralian televisn reporter, cid to film his gby club as they went to the biannual Bgham Cup 2018, he uld never have imaged the posive reactn a documentary about would film Steelers is about London-based Kgs Cross Steelers, the world's first gay gby club and one of over 60 such sis world-wi.

Although the stori the film are related to the stggl of g out, prsn, and a history of bullyg for beg gay, they're are told a way which wir dienc n empathise wh.

"It's a story about a gay gby club, but 's also a story about human stggle, and people g sport and their sense of muny to help each other, which is universal, " Ashton-Atkson told ESPN. "She's got a certifite for the hight achg level, and sce she left the Steelers she's been nsistently overlooked and not even shortlisted [for jobs] than men who are ls qualified and ls experienced than her, which is heart-breakg and disgtg, " Ashton-Atkson beg gay 2021 wtern society is often unremarkable today, you don't have to go back very far to fd trmatic stori.

"But, if 's easier to e out now, then why do we need gay gby clubs? "That's a thought that do go through your md, and while 's generally a posive there are still pockets of homophobia.

Then, 2019, Atralia's Israel Fol spouted his famo anti-gay ments on Instagram, sayg "hell awas" gay opened the drawer and started the ed aga om scratch, and turned to the unnventnal documentary has bee. "Wh beg gay, you don't thk that I grew up sperately wantg to change my sexualy, like, wishg the gay away? They were dubbed the tabloids as 'Harlequeens, ' there was homophobic ments, and a fear over ntractg HIV and AIDS.