Milo Baxa has always loved soccer. But as they grew up and began to understand themselves, finding a way to play became harder and harder. At 16, they came out as a lesbian. But they still weren’t comfortable on the pitch.

“I knew I was different. I didn’t know I was trans,” Baxa told OPB recently. “But I was already feeling like I didn’t belong in girls-only spaces.”

The options at their small town Nebraska high school were the girls soccer team or the boys soccer team.

“And that really made me feel like: What team am I supposed to play on?” they said.

So Baxa gave up the beautiful game.

“Everyone is nice on the surface, but there are things that just aren’t said,” Baxa said. “I think I just kind of excluded myself from spaces where I thought I would make people uncomfortable.”

It’s a scenario that may feel familiar to some queer, nonbinary and trans people. Giving up sports is not good for a person’s health, whatever their gender identity. Soccer can improve cardiovascular function, muscle strength, bone density, stress, self-esteem, even social development.

Portland soccer players who identify as queer are now carving out a space for themselves; the Lavender League is a soccer league from people over 18 who identify as queer women, nonbinary or trans.

The league, which now has more than 200 registered players, is proving popular as people in the LGBTQ+ community adjust to the country’s new political reality: President Donald Trump has issued four executive orders targeting transgender Americans in his first two months in office, including one prohibiting transgender girls from competing in female school sports.

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Baxa decided to start playing soccer again after the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to be more social. They joined a Portland LGBTQ league. But Baxa said trans and nonbinary people were not the focus.

“It was still very much like a lot of cisgendered gay men playing and it just wasn’t safe,” Baxa said.

They saw significant injuries, like knee dislocations and ACL tears. In addition, they said, some male players were reluctant to pass to women or trans people. And, said trans player Amber Vidal, when games got close opposing teams questioned the gender of players — implying transgender women were lying about their gender to pack teams with more male players than permitted.

“It can turn into a really intense and aggressive time between the ref and our team,” Vidal said.

So in 2023, a group of trans and queer players sent out a survey to people in other LGBTQ leagues saying they were thinking of creating a new league for queer women, trans and nonbinary players. They specifically asked what kind of league people wanted.

Hundreds responded, many loving the idea. The consensus was that potential players wanted to play competitive soccer, with tough competition. But they also wanted to build community and create an accepting soccer culture.

“Both on and off the field we want people to feel good playing the sport against each other. We want to have good sportspersonship,” Baxa said.

“We want people to go dancing with each other on the weekends and have a good time.”

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The league is run by queer and trans people, and a special effort has been made to have queer and trans referees who are both properly trained and paid.

The rapid growth of the league comes as the Trump administration is attempting to block transgender girls from sports and trans men and women from serving in the military. Travers, a sociology professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada who just goes by the one name, said it makes sense that queer and trans people want their own soccer league at a time like this.

“For them to fully enjoy sport, they need to be in a place where their belonging is not a potential question mark,” Travers said.

Chase Mancia, a queer woman of color and Portland fitness club manager, agrees and loves the new league.

“It’s really unique to have this in a place like Portland where we do try to make it an inclusive space,” Mancia said.

With long blonde hair, blue eyes and a chin full of whiskers, Amber Vidal used to feel they didn’t fit in anywhere in soccer. They didn’t feel included in either the boys team or the girls team. But now they can walk onto a pitch and feel like they belong.

To the casual observer, it looks like any other Sunday morning soccer practice but for Vidal, it’s pure queer joy.

“You show up and there’s like people are blowing bubbles, people have brought cake to give out to people. There’s speakers playing all of our favorite music. Just everyone’s smiling and being very happy to be there,” Vidal said.

In fact, some of the league’s most popular events don’t even involve soccer — like their queer prom and wellness fair with trans-owned businesses.

The Dandy Lions, the Mia Hamm Sandwiches, the One Kick Wonders and other teams start their season in March. All adults are welcome so long as the focus remains on queer women, trans and nonbinary players. The season lasts eight weeks.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/15/portland-lavender-soccer-team/