Maggie Collette, 27, and Tucker Duval, 36, put their hands into the Forbidden Fruits team huddle as they prepare for OutLoud Athens championship kickball game on Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. The Forbidden Fruits beat the Ball-Barians to win the championship. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

How a queer kickball league is creating a safe space in Athens 
By Emily Laycock
Robbie Haynes, 32, moved to Athens last July from Orlando, Florida after his partner, Tyler Goehring, 31, accepted a position as an assistant professor of string music at the University of Georgia. To his surprise he found that the city did not have any explicitly queer-labeled spaces. 

Athens, despite its progressive culture and the ACC Commission’s designation of the city as a “safe haven” for the LGBTQ+ community in December 2024, still lacks clearly defined queer spaces. Boneshakers Bar, the last officially recognized gay bar in Athens, closed in 2005. Since then, Athens has had a handful of queer-adjacent bars, such as Go Bar and now Church Bar, but no spaces that explicitly market themselves as queer.

Shaugnessy McCann, 43, runs back to third base during the OutLoud Sports Athens kickball championship game on Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. McCann plays for the Forbidden Fruits who finished the regular season 6-1-1.  (Photo/ Emily Laycock) 

Haynes in response decided to start a LGBT+ Allies kickball league as a way to build community for himself and others. OutLoud Sports Athens was soon born, part of the broader OutLoud Sports network, which is the nation’s first Queer+ adult recreational sports organization.
OutLoud Sports Athens launched its inaugural season on Saturday, October 11 with 37 players across three teams and grew to 68 players by its second season in February.
“Besides going on like dating apps, there's no central location to meet people,” Haynes said. “So I was like, well this would be cool if I give the community that … versus like a dating app or something. Sometimes you're not looking to date, you just want to make friends, and there's no friend app.”

Lucas Walsh, 37, and Nick Bowser, 39, discuss the kicking rotation for their kickball game at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia on Saturday, March 21, 2026. Walsh and Bowser play on Kick-N-The Balls, one of the three teams playing in OutLoud’s gay kickball league this spring. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

Jillian Jones, 29, helps Cai Cai Rose, 37, wrap her injured hand before their kickball game on Saturday, March 21, 2026 at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. Jones and Rose joined the LGBT+ Allies kickball league to find community and friends. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

More than kickball 
Cass Hall, 36, moved from Liverpool, England in October 2020 to take a job as an assistant professor of computational astrophysics at the University of Georgia. She initially had reservations about moving to a southern bible belt state, questioning what it would be like as gay woman, but said those concerns quickly eased after arriving. 
“I saw that this town has like rainbow crosswalks, and on my 1st evening here, while I was still interviewing on campus, I saw these 2 gay lads, a young couple, holding hands,” Hall said. “I was like, it must be okay to be queer here.”

Jayne Roberts, 33, gives Leonard Williams, 39, a high five after running to third base during OutLoud Sports Athens kickball game on Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. The league includes people from all different walks of life and sexual orientations. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

Cass Hall, 36, tags Dalton Croy, 27, as he runs to home base during OutLoud Sports Athens kickball game on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. Hall joined the league this season after seeing an ad on social media. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

Thus, she was surprised by what felt like a gap between Athens’ welcoming atmosphere and the lack of dedicated queer spaces.
“So I felt like Athens was probably quite a welcoming place and I think it is,” she said. “But having said that, I was surprised that there wasn't much in the way of like queer spaces for us because it is quite welcoming.”
OutLoud Sports Athens has given Hall a space to meet people outside of her normal academic circle, with people in the league coming from all different walks of life and career fields, with  ages ranging from 21 to 62 years old. 

Rob Hagwood, 54, hugs Maggie Collette, 27, during her kickball game on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. Both Hagwood and Collette are in their second season playing in the league. (Photo/ Emily Laycock) 

Hall says some of her favorite moments have happened off the field, especially during the postgame socials the team holds at Athentic Brewing Company.
“The favorite memories have been just talking to people, either in the dugouts when you're waiting to kick or at the brewery afterwards,” she said. “That's been really nice.”
Haynes has worked to create a safe social space that goes beyond kickball, noting in the pre-game emails that the league is 80% social and 20% healthy competition.

Robbie Haynes, 32, chats with David Williams, 42, during OutLoud Sports Athens post game social at Creature Comforts brewery in downtown Athens, Georgia on Saturday, March 21, 2026. Normally the post game socials are held at Athentic Brewing Company. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

Broader political climate 
For longtime Athens resident Rob Hagwood, 54, a social worker in the ICU at Piedmont Athens, OutLoud addresses a growing need. Hagwood has been part of the city’s queer community for the past 15 years and has watched both it and Athens grow and evolve. He said the current political climate has made spaces like OutLoud Sports Athens even more important.
“I think finding those spaces is incredibly important now more than ever,”  Hagwood said. “And I think in small towns, like we're in, even though it is a little more progressive than other parts of our state. It's still very clear that there is a strong population of people here that don't want us here.”

Shaugnessy McCann, 43, wears rainbow socks as he watches the OutLoud Sports Athens kickball quarter final game on Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. OutLoud Sports Athens is the city’s first queer sports league. (Photo/ Emily Laycock) 

Lucas Walsh, 37, and Rhett Lanier, 32, help Heath Tucker, 49, off the field after he tweaks his ankle during an OutLoud Sports Athens kickball game on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. The league fielded three teams this season: Forbidden Fruits, Ball-Barians and Kick-N-The Balls. (Photo/ Emily Laycock)

The Trevor Project’s 2024 national survey found that 90% of LGBTQ+ young people said their well being was negatively impacted due to recent politics. 
“Maybe because I'm a little bit older, I might just have a little bit of a different outlook on things,” Hagwood said. “But I also very much understand that if I were a young person right now, I would be scared shitless.” 

In 2024, more than 75+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills were signed into law, alongside a record 600+ anti-transgender state and federal bills that were introduced. This historic rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has been felt by the community, with nearly 80% of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. reporting feeling less safe because of such legislation, according to a survey by LGBTQ+ market research firm Community Marketing & Insights.

Anne Reynolds, 31, shares a laugh with Maggie Collette, 27, after their team’s OutLoud Sports Athens kickball championship win on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. In just two seasons, the league has nearly doubled in size, growing from 37 to 68 players. (Photo/ Emily Laycock) 

Finding belonging
Jayne Roberts, 33, a copywriter in the University of Georgia’s marketing communications office, said the broader political climate became more noticeable after she moved from Atlanta to Athens in 2021. She struggled to find safe queer spaces and sometimes made the hour-and-a-half drive back to Atlanta to access them.
Outloud Sports has since helped fill that gap by offering her a sense of safety and community in Athens. “It honestly made me see Athens in a different way,” Roberts said.
“You kind of go throughout the day not acknowledging this part of yourself, and so having this space where you can put 100% of yourself in, where nobody’s judging you and everyone’s welcoming, and you can talk about experiences that you may not be able to talk about in your day-to-day life… I got this really warm feeling,” Roberts said. “Sometimes I think about it during the day and I just smile.”

Miranda Adams-Santana, 28, and Allison Santana, 32, share a kiss as they celebrate their kickball team’s championship win on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. The couple married last summer after meeting on Tinder. (Photo/ Emily Laycock) 

Growing community 
OutLoud Sports Athens is continuing to grow with new cornhole and dodgeball leagues launching this summer. The cornhole league sold out in just six days. 
“People want to do it. They want things that we can do, you know, during the week, or I'm gonna sound older, a reasonable hour,” Hagwood said.

Sam Gay, 27, kisses Garner Gay, 28, on the cheek as they pose with their OutLoud Sports Athens kickball championship trophy on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia. The couple served as co-captains of the Forbidden Fruits, with Garner also coaching the team. (Photo/ Emily Laycock) 

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