The Project

QUEER SPORTS
DATABASE

THE IDEA

Queer Sports DB is a community-built directory of sports clubs for queer athletes, of any level. Soccer leagues, flag football games, pick-up basketball, ice hockey, and more — all in one searchable place.

Finding queer-friendly sports communities can be hard. This makes it easier.

THE MODEL

Anyone can submit a club. Submissions are reviewed before going live to keep the directory accurate and relevant. Once approved, clubs are searchable and filterable by sport, skill level, and season.

No ads. No algorithms. Just a list.

THE 🏳️‍⚧️ FLAG

Some clubs in this directory carry a trans flag 🏳️‍⚧️ next to their name. It means the club has made an explicit, public statement welcoming trans athletes: on their website, their instagram, their bylaws, or somewhere people can see it.

A lot of these clubs are doing this in direct defiance of their national governing bodies. Some of these clubs technically fall under national federations (USA Powerlifting, USA Hockey, USA Rugby) that have policies that restrict or outright ban trans participation. These clubs have looked at those policies and said "no." They've chosen their community over their federation, and they've put it in writing.

If you've had an experience with a club that doesn't support their stated values around supporting trans athletes, please reach out via the contact page

THE 🩷 FLAG

Some clubs carry a pink heart 🩷 next to their name. This means the club has specific language about being centered on lesbians and women. That might be in their name, their mission statement, their bylaws, or how they describe themselves online.

Women have been excluded from sports for a long time: underfunded, deprioritized, left out of facilities and leagues, told their games weren't worth watching. Clubs that center women and lesbians exist partly as a response to that history. They're doing the work of building the community that mainstream sports didn't build for them.

Lesbian/women-centered doesn't mean exclusive. We believe the strongest clubs hold both things at once — centering women and lesbians and being explicitly trans-inclusive. Those aren't in tension. We believe in clubs that do both.

If a club is looking for an example of bylaws that center women and lesbians while staying firmly trans-inclusive, we recommend the Dyke Soccer Mxifesto as a starting point. Queer Sports DB operates from the same ethos as their NO GENDER POLICING guideline:

NO GENDER POLICING

Players will never be asked to share their gender identity in order to play. We are for whomever this feels like home.

We ask cisgender men to respect that our central goal is to create space and time on the pitch for queer women, transfolx, and gender-variant players. Further, there is often already ample playspace for cisgender men. We hope that our mission is clear enough that people will self-determine whether this is a space for them.

All being said, we would rather take the chance of playing with a few cisgender men over being TERFy.

HOW TO READ THE TAGS

Skill — Recreational means all levels are welcome. Competitive means the club is built around higher-level play. Some clubs have both because they run multiple teams, or pick-up nights split by skill level. If you're new, look for rec. If you want a harder game, look for comp.

Play Type —

  • Pick-Up — a semi-regular casual meetup. No set teams, just show up.
  • League — weekly league play with assigned teams, or the club participates in a broader multi-city league.
  • Tournament — the club hosts an annual tournament.
  • Travel — opportunities to travel to other cities to play, either through regular league games or tournaments.
Browse the Database Add a Club