Wednesday, Aug. 12 Lambda Archives of San Diego hosted its second Out at the Archives series, Coming Out to Play at The Center. The event featured a brief history of some of the LGBT sports organizations, a panel discussion with past and current league leaders and a Q&A from the audience.
“Roman Jimenez began the event presentation saying, “As a 20-year veteran and proud commissioner of one these LGBT sports organizations, I am often asked ‘Why do you need a ‘gay’ sports group?’ And I reply this way: Because 34 years ago, the last place you’d want to be if you were a gay man would be next to a straight man holding a baseball bat!”
Lambda Archives President Maureen Steiner paid tribute to the gay sports organizations in San Diego, many of whom were represented at the event. “I’ve been fortunate to play in four of the leagues in San Diego, softball, tennis, football and bowling, and I really enjoyed my experience in all of them,” said Steiner. “While softball is my first love, I have tremendous respect for all the organizations we will be talking about tonight and even more respect for those trailblazers who started them. These men and women saw a need and were out and proud when being out and proud could quite literally cost you your life.
“They had to fight to get the word out. They had to fight to get a place to play, dealing with skeptical gay papers, leery business owners and sometimes homophobic city staff. They had to fight to get sponsors and players and when the AIDS pandemic murdered nearly an entire generation, they had to fight to stay alive and vibrant.
“Tonight we recognize their perseverance and celebrate their great accomplishments by honoring their history.”
Debbie Chaddock tearfully told of how she found a new family in the Front Runners. In 1982, she saw an ad in the Reader for “gay runners” and wrote to the P.O. Box listed. She received a reply from Front Runners’ membership chair John Lockhart inviting her to join the group. She said the group quickly became her family and “it gave me the courage to come out to my own family. I knew if they disowned me, I’d still have my running family.”
After the panel discussion light refreshments were served. Lockhart hailed the success of the evening, “Thank you to the Archives for a wonderful evening tonight. It was thoughtful, planned, informative, timely and fun.”
The next Out at the Archives will take place Sept. 28 at Diversionary Theatre.
