BEING PROUD
19,000 PLAYERS AND GROWING.
Being Proud is who we are —on the field, behind the player, and across generations of iPride community
BEING PROUD
BE AN IPRIDE PLAYER
An iPride player can be anyone. We come in all shapes, sizes, and identities—from different countries, cultures, languages, and walks of life. What unites us is simple: we love the game. We come to the field to compete, to laugh, and to connect—with our teammates, our families, and our wider community. We show up as our full selves in a space that’s safe, welcoming, and proud. And when we step onto the field, we join a movement—over 20,000 LGBT athletes strong—standing together for inclusion, equality, and joy in sport and beyond.
BEING AN IPRIDE PLAYER
ARKELL WILSON, 23
When Arkell Wilson came to Nashville from a small town about 45 minutes away, he wasn’t arriving with a big plan—just the hope for more opportunity, a little more room to breathe, and maybe a taste of what life could feel like in a bigger city. He was young, still figuring himself out, and he hadn’t shared much about being gay with many people, especially not with his family. So when he met his now-partner, Nicholas Cook—someone who had already been part of the Metro Nashville Softball Association (MNSA) for years—Arkell’s introduction to queer softball didn’t start with a bat or a glove. It started on the sidelines.
BEING AN IPRIDE PLAYER
JAGUER ROMERO, 27
Jaguer (pron: Jagger) Romero is in love with queer softball. Just talk to him, and you’ll hear what I mean. If you do, you’ll also learn that it was pretty much love at first sight. That was about nine years ago, and since then, he has progressed up the ranks from C, to B, to now A in iPride Softball. He is a founding member of Dream Skittles, along with good friends Dillon Arceneaux and coach Josh Cherry.
But to understand how he got here, you have to kind of start at the beginning.
BEING AN IPRIDE PLAYER
RAY OMNE, 19
Ray Omne didn’t arrive in San Francisco as a wide-eyed kid excited for a new life. He arrived at 16 and didn’t want to be here. He didn’t know anyone. He didn’t really speak the language. And on top of the normal chaos of moving countries as a teenager, Ray was also trying to figure out something even more complicated: what being gay could look like for him—especially coming from a place where it was treated like something shameful.
BEING AN IPRIDE PLAYER
CHRISTOPHER HALEY, 29
Chris Haley has always been an athlete at heart. He grew up playing baseball and hockey and assumed sports would stay in his life for the long haul—until middle school changed everything. Chris was diagnosed with Kawasaki’s Disease, a condition that affects the blood vessels supplying the heart, and suddenly the future he pictured didn’t feel guaranteed. Contact sports were off the table. The thing that grounded him, challenged him, and gave him identity had to be put away—at least for a while.
BEING AN IPRIDE PLAYER
JEDIDIAH WOLKE, 21
It is not overstating to say that led his gay family when he first laced up his cleats for his first ever gay softball games in the Fall of 2022. It was for a team called “Aye, No” in the Greater Los Angeles Softball Association (GLASA). Before then, he assumed the only gay people who played sports were the anomalies one hears about when they publicly come out. He never dreamed there were entire leagues by and for the community.
BEING AN IPRIDE PLAYER
RAE WILDE, 29
Rae Wilde is a 29 year-old non-binary outfielder who plays in the Twin Cities Goodtime Softball League (TCGSL) out of Minneapolis.
Literally everything about that last sentence represents several steps of a long journey of progress, one that has involved not only their identity, but also location, and for the past seven years, learning to live with a disability.
