Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Whichever team you play for, love the game: A straight man’s view from the dugout of all-gay softball team

Recreational softball player John Newton

L.E. Baskow

John Newton was part of a Las Vegas area team to win the Gay Softball World Series on Sept. 27 in Dallas. League rules allow each team to have up to three straight players, though Newton was the only one on his team.

Gay Softball World Series Championship

Grease Monkeys coach Brent Elser addresses the team between games on championship Saturday, Sept. 27, in Dallas. Launch slideshow »

ABOUT THE LEAGUE

The Las Vegas Gay Softball League has grown from four teams in 2009 during its inaugural season to 19 teams in multiple skill divisions last spring.

It is affiliated with the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, which includes more than 50,000 athletes and hosts the annual Gay Softball World Series.

There are about 3,000 gay softball teams in 43 U.S. cities and Canada. Local organizers make sure all players interested in joining a team have roster spots.

“A lot of people don’t take me serious because I’m a queen in the gay community,” said Tom Leng, who has played in the league since its first season. “It’s good for me to show my ability and that I can play sports.”

John Newton received what he thought was a bizarre welcome when he arrived for his first game with a new recreational softball team.

“I walk down the steps and hear, ‘Hey, hooker,’ ” Newton said.

After the game, at the team’s sponsor bar, Newton started to realize the team wasn’t like others he’d been part of.

“So, there are a couple of gay guys on this team?” Newton recalled asking his straight friend who had invited him to join the team. “By the end of the year, I said: ‘It’s just you and me, right?’ ”

That was four years ago. Newton, who competes in as many as four leagues at a time, had joined a team in the Las Vegas Gay Softball League. In keeping with the league’s mission to forge alliances between the gay and straight communities, rules permit each team to have up to three heterosexual players. It has become one of Newton’s favorite leagues.

“Players in the straight leagues play like there’s a scout for the New York Yankees in the stands and they could be called up (to the big leagues),” Newton said. “That’s not what softball is about. In the gay leagues, it’s also competitive, but it’s more about having fun. It’s a party every game.”

Last month in Dallas, Newton’s team had plenty of reason to party. The Las Vegas Grease Monkeys went 9-0-1 and outscored their opponents 132-66 at the Gay Softball World Series, besting 54 other teams from the United States and Canada to win the C Division championship. For Newton, it was the second time he’d won the event, having been a part of the 2011 champion team from Las Vegas.

Both times, players cried with pride over what they had accomplished, reminding Newton of the true meaning of sports in any league: participation. Many gay athletes were uncomfortable playing team sports as children, fearful they wouldn’t be accepted.

“It can’t mean as much for me as it did for them,” Newton said. “The tournament is by gays, for gays and of gays. To see them with tears of joy was unexplainable. I’m glad they accepted me and let me enjoy it with them.”

Tom “Baby T” Leng, the teammate who greeted Newton for his first game, has become one of Newton’s closet friends — and not just in softball.

Leng, who has had the words ‘Mrs. Newton’ written on the back of his jersey, openly and exaggeratedly flirts with Newton. Some might find that uncomfortable, but Newton takes it in stride.

“Nobody crosses the line,” he said. “They are super respectful.”

Newton grew up in San Francisco and didn’t think twice about joining the gay league. He drinks with teammates at the Garage, a local gay bar, and attends other social events such as pool parties. He also brings his daughters to games.

“He is really open, and he doesn’t judge others,” said Leng, who has been known to play in a prom dress. “If you can play ball, you can play ball.”

In Dallas, Leng and Newton teamed for what may have been the biggest play of the week. With one out and the score tied against the Austin Outlaws, Newton caught a fly ball in left-center field, then fired a strike home to Leng, who made the tag on a runner trying to score from third base. The double play forced an extra inning, and the Grease Monkeys put the game out of reach by scoring eight runs to remain in the winner’s bracket.

Back in Las Vegas, the league’s fall season has begun at Lorenzi Park, and most Sundays, you can’t tell this league from any other in town. It’s just a group of guys gathering for recreation, playing in front of family and friends, and maybe downing a cold one between innings.

What do you mean there’s a straight cap?

Dave Mondt, managing editor of The Sunday, played outfield and first base for the Grease Monkeys at the Gay Softball World Series and is a board member for the Las Vegas Gay Softball League. Here are his thoughts on why a gay softball league is needed, and why the international body that governs play in the league caps the number of straight players per team at three.

When my straight friends find out there’s a gay softball league in Las Vegas, there’s usually one of two reactions:

1) That’s funny; how do they determine whether or not someone is gay?

2) That’s discrimination!

It’s something the LVGSL has struggled with since it formed. Each team in the league’s C and D divisions is allowed up to three heterosexual players, a rule that consistently leads to controversy for the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance and the Gay Softball World Series it runs.

There even was a court case in Seattle when players who identified themselves as bisexual were protested. (The case eventually was settled, and the second-place trophy the players’ team earned that year was restored). So to answer the first reaction, they determine whether someone is gay simply by asking them on their league membership form. Any player listing himself as a member of the LGBT community who comes under protest must produce two members of the league, who aren't on his team, to vouch for him. That's it. There's no interrogation or test to pass.

But why have the rule at all? Why have a gay league?

The reason is simple: Many gay adults felt isolated and ostracized as youths and, as a result, did not take part in team sports. Gay leagues give them that opportunity. Without the cap on straight participants, the league could lose that comfort level for its participants, the very people it was created to make feel safe.

The charge of discrimination is usually done tongue-in-cheek, but the fact that it's a private organization has in the past shielded such organizations as the Boy Scouts of America and Augusta National from accepting gay and female members, respectively.

Is it hypocritical for a community that seeks acceptance in other facets of life to partially segregate itself in this one? Maybe.

But the world is changing, fast. These days, homosexuality is more and more accepted, with same-sex marriage now legal in 32 states and Washington, D.C.

In the years to come, the idea of living in the closet may be foreign to adolescent gay athletes. And when that day comes, there may be no need for gay leagues.

But until that day arrives, many will be playing ball with the LVGSL.

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