Maria Arozamena, Illustrations Editor

In 2020, change was in the air. 

Amongst the surging momentum surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, the eight Ivy League Women’s Soccer teams seized the opportunity to form the Ivy League Justice Coalition. Made up of players and coaches from each school, the organization looked to unify the League by educating teammates and fans on social justice through their games. 

One of these games is Pride night, which the coalition decided to host on the same day every year. Each team also donned the same shirt with their school’s logo. This year, Yale will play against the University of Pennsylvania (1–5–3, 0–0 Ivy) on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at Reese Stadium

The idea of a Pride night is not unique to Yale or the Ivy League. Countless schools around the country host Pride events for their athletics programs, often throwing up a rainbow flag haphazardly. An entirely performative charade is something Head Coach Sarah Martinez said she and her team look to avoid, instead looking to uplift LGBTQ+ people at Yale and in New Haven.

“Last year, [the coalition] thought it would be really powerful to do something together,” she said. “It’s just becoming bigger and more meaningful and impactful other than just saying ‘we support this.’”

Ellie Rappole ’25 was one of the campaign leaders for this league-wide Pride night. She wanted the event to be meaningful for those on and off the field who identify as queer.

According to Rappole, this year’s Pride night, which will take place on Saturday, Oct. 5, is a “year in the making.” 

“After our Pride night last year, I set to work making sure this year’s would be less performative and would help elevate the queer communities within both Yale and New Haven,” she said.

Rappole credited Assistant Athletic Director Abby Reynolds, Grayson Vives ’25 and the on-campus group Athlete Ally for their support in putting the night together

Mia Levy ’25, president of Athlete Ally and member of Yale Women’s Crew, said that the organization wanted to ensure the event stayed away from the typically performative Pride showmanship and truly support queer athletes.

“Yale Athlete Ally is a safe, queer space where athletes can come to feel appreciated as their full selves, and hopefully then bring that confidence back to their field of play,” Levy wrote. “We encourage teams to add more substance to their Pride nights by adding a fundraiser component for a local LGBTQ organization, inviting the Yale LGBTQ Center or other organizations to set up tables, or spreading educational information about how spectators and athletes can make their teams more inclusive spaces.”

The women’s soccer team chose to enhance their Pride night through fundraising efforts. With Rappole’s help, the team is raising money for A Place to Nourish Your Health, an LGBTQ-friendly organization focused on the care of people at risk of HIV, substance abuse, and mental illness.

Nana Yang ’25, this season’s captain and an international student from Espoo, Finland, is openly queer.  

Her experience in Finland, where her club team had an “accepting and empowering culture,” shaped how she carried herself in the team’s locker room, as she “didn’t think twice about who I can and cannot be.”

“I think me coming in confident changed the locker room to be similar to my club team’s,” Yang told the News. “In other words, me being so open and comfortable with who I am I think showed others that it’s okay — and actually pretty awesome — to break the norm.”

She considers herself very fortunate in her upbringing near Finland’s progressive capital city and the openness of her club team. Yang emphasized that she knows not everyone can be themselves, but she is grateful that she can because she chose Yale Women’s Soccer, where “anyone can be themself in [the] locker room.” 

Both Yang and Martinez have worked to ensure the locker room stays as welcoming as possible to the teammates who walk in it, no matter who they are.

Martinez told the News that the best way to do this is to set the tone from the start.

“I say this to my team a lot: when the first years walk in the door, they’re often wide-eyed and a bit naive,” Martinez said. “Right away being able to set that tone: whether it’s standards, whether it’s expression of yourself, whether it’s tolerance to any type of discrimination, I think … that’s something that our program has taken a lot of pride in.”

Coach Martinez told the News that because sports games are entertaining by nature, they can use that to draw people in and educate the community.

Pride night specifically is a responsibility she and her team take seriously because, as Martinez pointed out, “to be a gay soccer player is not abnormal in women’s soccer.” A 2023 Washington Post article called the Women’s World Cup “the gayest World Cup ever” because the 32 teams had a combined total of around 100 openly queer athletes on their rosters.

“[The Pride night is] one of our team’s favorite games of the year — they get cool shirts, that’s probably part of it — but I think they know how much it means to so many people within the locker room, how much it means to myself, and how much it can impact others,” Martinez said.

This Pride night is not just for out and proud athletes. It’s also for the allies, the curious, the closeted and everyone who takes pride in a part of themselves because, Yang emphasized, “it’s okay to be anything and everything all at once.” 

Levy emphasized the importance of being loud with support.

“When we get members to show up to a pride game, queer athletes feel supported and cared for and those are the foundations of the community we are trying to build with Athlete Ally,” Levy wrote to the News. “The prouder and louder we are, the easier queer athletes, both out and closeted, can find us, get connected with us, and feel more supported as their whole queer selves.”

Martinez, Rappole, Yang and their team want to state that everyone deserves to feel proud of who they are.

The team’s fundraiser for A Place to Nourish your Health is available here.