In the 1970s, Norfolk’s queer community was primarily centered in the Ghent neighborhood.
Like other gay neighborhoods around the country of the time, there was acceptance, but that didn’t always mean the thriving queer culture was visible.
Some younger gay residents took a major step toward visibility in those years by organizing community athletic leagues, pushing the boundaries of what the gay community had traditionally done.
While queer people could slip into gay bars almost anonymously, participating in a gay athletic team meant coming out, said Fred Osgood, a journalist for the local queer newspaper, “Our Own,” which shut down in 1998 after 22 years of publishing.
“There’s no doubt that having the outside sport and being outside definitely was a break with that mentality of sneaking into bars, (that) … remember had their windows painted dark and the insides were dark and it was all dark … to sort of keep anonymity alive and make people feel safe.”
Norfolk’s gay athletic league started as small pick-up games in Stockley Gardens on Sunday afternoons. Soon, it attracted hundreds of mostly gay men.
In 1985, a small group of supporters launched a softball league that grew to 14 teams across Hampton Roads, including a popular women’s softball team. By 1986, the region hosted a national gay softball tournament.
Osgood recalls teams from all over the country attending.
“It seems we had like a team from Florida,” he said. “I know we had one from Boston (and) New York. It was challenging for them to get enough ball fields to be able to do this.”
The tradition of queer athletic leagues continues today.
The local Stonewall Bowling League - named for a Washington D.C. kickball league named after the 1969 uprising in New York City - takes over Indian River Lanes in Virginia Beach on Sunday afternoons.
Bowler Andrew Roberts said the league gives LGBTQ people an opportunity to meet somewhere other than a club.
“It’s a great distraction on a Sunday afternoon. I think this is our fourth or fifth year doing it,” he said. “It’s just great to come together as a community and be in a safe space and have the ability to be ourselves really.”
Another league member, Stephen Hart, said he isn’t surprised that the bowling league has become so popular – it attracts queer bowlers and allies alike.
“There are … parents, siblings, straight couples that are bowling because they might have a gay sibling,” he said. “It’s not just gay and lesbian and transgender people here bowling, there’s a lot of allies.”
