July 14, 2025
Provided Image/Stonewall Philly
As the University of Pennsylvania has become the center of discussion on transgender women competing in sports, Stonewall Philly's recreational sports leagues for women, trans and non-binary players have attempted to create an inclusive community. Above, Stonewall Philly members compete in grass volleyball.
As the trans community faces barriers to competing in sports under the Trump administration's restrictive policies, a Philadelphia organization is expanding its inclusive space for local athletes.
Stonewall Philly, one of 27 chapters nationwide under the Stonewall Sports Incorporated, has been promoting LGBTQ+ leagues since 2014. In the fall, Jennifer Medaglia, the membership experience director, said she drew in new players when she started she/they leagues for grass volleyball and billiards. But she later realized that label was still too limiting.
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"What I ended up finding by the end of that ... season was that I didn't think the verbiage was inclusive enough, so I changed it to WTNB, which is women, trans, non-binary," Medaglia said. "I found since we have changed the verbiage from she/they to WTNB, we are seeing an uptick of non-binary members.
"Our members ... who have been playing for 10 years are like, 'Oh, this is really cool. I like that you're doing this.'"
Medaglia said the renaming of the league for the most recent spring sports season was done for the purpose of inclusivity. She wanted people to play who may have they/them or he/them pronouns as well.
"I've been extremely athletic my whole life and I wanted to get involved with sports and I was scared to get involved in any league where I wasn't sure what the dynamic would be and if people would clock me for being trans," said Adam Kupiec, who uses he/they pronouns and has participated in grass volleyball and bowling WTNB leagues, as well as other Stonewall Philly sports programs.
"The energy of being on the WTNB leagues as a trans person is so wonderful," he continued.
New WTNB summer leagues started over the last week. Bowling at Lucky Strike on Thursdays fields six teams with 55 overall participants, and grass volleyball at Marconi Park on Sundays has six teams and 58 players. There are also leagues for pickleball and billiards. Registration for fall leagues, which include billiards and indoor volleyball, go live on Stonewall Philly's website Monday.
Stonewall Philly's expansion comes as the city has become an epicenter on the debate around transgender women participating in college athletics.
Three years after Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, competed on the University of Pennsylvania women's swimming team, the school released a statement this month that it "will comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972" and ban transgender women from women's sports. The announcement came as part of Penn's resolution with the U.S. Department of Education following a federal civil rights case into Thomas, whose 2022 NCAA Division I title in the 500-yard freestyle has been removed from the record books under the agreement.
Following Penn's change of policy in its deal with the Trump administration, Stonewall Philly put out a statement:
"Philadelphia has always been a city of resilience, progress and defiance in the name of liberty; a place where communities come together to demand justice and create spaces of belonging," the organization said. "... Athletics should be about joy, competition and community ... not barriers. In a city that has always fought for liberty, we stand firm in our belief: Trans people belong in sports. Trans people belong here."
Medaglia said inclusivity is paramount to what the organization is trying to accomplish. Team T-shirts include a space for athletes to write their names and pronouns, which is not mandatory but strongly encouraged.
"I've been doing a lot of education about why pronouns are important," she said. "... It builds community by being able to use somebody's correct pronouns. I've had people come up to me and say, I didn't feel comfortable playing in Stonewall before you guys started offering this WTNB league."
While sports are inherently competitive, Medaglia said that winning is not the main objective of these leagues.
"I tell people all the time, especially with WTNB, it's about the vibes," she said. "We're here to have fun. We're here to make friends. Nobody's going to yell at you if you mess up."
Kupiec said, "Jenn has cultivated such a beautiful culture."
While the leagues focus on creating a positive environment for all, the overarching challenges of the world persist.
"We have to offer support to one another, and we have to all come together and be a community, especially in today's climate," Medaglia said. "There's such a small margin of transgender athletes to make it."
Kupiec says it's nice just having trans people in the league to talk to about the issues that affect them.
"It feels like this safe space," he said. "We've talked about our shared experiences."
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