“I really felt like I was the only homosexual in my entire high school, I thought I was the only homosexual in the world.” – Tom Waddell, founder of the Gay Games
On National Coming Out Day in 2022 (October 11, 2022), we produced an event with our network to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Gay Games in 1982, the legacy of Tom Waddell, but the history of the LGBTQ+ community proudly and openly engaging in sports dates back before 1982. The following list of organizations is not an exhaustive list of organizations in our network. This list only includes non-profit organizations and informal community organizations in our network that tabled at our recruiting events on October 11, 2022 and February 1, 2023.
Pre-Gay Games (before 1982)
In the decade following the Stonewall Riots (1969), our community created community-based sports programming as an alternative to bars and clubs for building community and meeting new people. One of the first LGBTQ+ sports clubs in the world was Front Runners in San Francisco, which started with an ad in the paper in 1973 and their first run in 1974 (Source: Website)
In 1977, the Metropolitan Community Athletic Association was founded as the Manhattan Community Athletic Association by Badlands bar owner Chuck Dima with help from Rich Diaz, Mike Cary, Fred Howell, and other business owners and community leaders. Their goal was to provide a safe space for our community to engage in sport. Even though the association initially only offered softball, the league was so successful that it quickly expanded to offer volleyball, bowling, pool and other sports. In 1980, the Metropolitan Community Athletic Association’s softball league was renamed the Big Apple Softball League. (Source: Website)
In 1979, Front Runners was founded by Malcolm Robinson. Front Runners held their first Pride Run in 1982. Front Runners held their first Cross Country 5K in 2002. (Source: Website, Website, Website)
In 1980, the New York Ramblers Soccer Club was founded, the world’s first soccer club for openly gay men. (Source: Website)
Also in 1980, the Sundance Outdoor Adventure Society was founded. (Source: Website)
In 1981, Gotham Volleyball was founded. (Source: Website)
Period from the 1982 Gay Games to 1994 Gay Games in New York
In 1982, the Gay Games was founded by Tom Waddell, first held in San Francisco. The sports at the first Gay Games were (in alphabetical order): basketball, billiards, bowling, cycling, diving, golf, marathon, physique, powerlifting, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, volleyball and wrestling. The Gay Games has been held every 4 years since, with the second Gay Games held in San Francisco in 1986 and the third Gay Games held in Vancouver, Canada in 1990. (Source: Website, Wikipedia)
In 1984, the New York Gay Pool League was founded. (Source: Website)
In 1985, the Metropolitan Tennis Group was founded by Terry Fonville. (Source: Website)
In 1989, Team New York was founded. (Source: see our story for more details)
In 1990, Team New York Aquatics was founded. (Source: Website)
In 1992, Metro Gay Wrestling Alliance was founded. (Source: Public Record Search)
In 1994, the fourth Gay Games was held here in New York during the commemorations of the 25th Anniversary of Stonewall. (Source: Website)
Post-1994 Gay Games
In 1999, the New York City Gay Hockey Association was founded by Jeff Kagan and Jeff Minck. Every year, the Gay Hockey Association holds their annual ice hockey tournament, the “Chelsea Challenge”. The tournament is the largest LGBTQ+ ice hockey tournament in the world. (Source: Website, Website)
In 2000, OOBNYC was founded by Jeff Kagan and Will Smathers (see our story for more details)
In 2001, Cheer New York was founded by Andrew Jonas and Felipe Hernandez. (Source: Felipe Hernandez)
Also in 2001, Gotham Knights Rugby Football Club was also founded. The club was founded by Scott Glaessgen, Toby Butterfield and others in memory of Mark Bingham who died heroically on September 11, 2001. In memory of Mark Bingham, the biennial international LGBTQ+ rugby championship tournament is named the “Bingham Cup” since 2002. For the past 22 years, the Bingham Cup has been held every other year, except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Source: Website, Website)
In 2004, the New York Gay Football League was founded. The New York Gay Football League has twice hosted the annual National Gay Flag Football League Championships, known as a the “Gay Bowl”: in 2007 and in 2019. The first Gay Bowl was held in 2002 and the championships are held every year in a different city in North America. The 2020 Gay Bowl was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the 2021 Gay Bowl was held in Arizona and the 2022 Gay Bowl was held in Hawaii. (Source: Website, Website)
In 2006, Pride Basketball League was founded by Jeff Kagan, Ron Sheppard, Mike Phipps and Leo Vergara. (Source: Jeff Kagan)
In 2008, Big Apple Recreational Sports League was founded (Source: Board of Directors in 2022)
In 2010, OutCycling was founded by Graham Weinstein and Dieter Klemke. (Source: Website)
Also in 2010, Blaze Backpacking Gay Men of New York City was founded. (Source: Leadership in 2022)
In 2014, Out-Fit (CrossFit) was founded by Todd Brandon Morris. (Source: Website, Website)
In 2017, Get Out and Trek was founded by Keith Oberlin. (Source: Website)
In 2018, Gotham Cheer was founded by Felipe Hernandez and Latoya Laflore (Source: Website, CBSNews).
In 2019, OOBNYC launched a new initiative called “NYC LGBT Sports Network.” (see our story for more details)