In the spirit of WA November Pride Fest celebrations, UWA hosted the second annual Baseball Pride Round on Sunday 17 November 2024.
Led by UWA and Kalamunda women’s teams and supported by all teams playing at UWA, this round was an opportunity for the baseball community to highlight the importance of awareness, engagement, representation and creating a safe space in sport. The round continued to build on the movement led by Ashleigh Hort, a key player with the Kalamunda Rangers who brought the first round to WA women’s baseball in 2023.
UWA proudly partnered with the Freedom Centre, a nonprofit organisation that provides a range of support services for LGBTIQA+ young people in Western Australia, including a drop-in space in West Leederville, youth counselling, community development and consultation. This year the Freedom Centre celebrate their 30 anniversary from their initial origin as a program in the WAAC in 1994.
On Sunday, the teams were joined by Leah, Peer Educator and Soko, People and Culture Manager to open the first round with a ceremonial pitch and talk about the vital work and support the Freedom Centre provides to the WA community including advocacy, support services, wellbeing and suicide prevention. UWA supported the round with pride merchandise, face painting and a limited edition UWA pride jersey raffle adding to the fun, with all of the proceeds raised from the day to be donated to the Freedom Centre.
UWA are also working closely with the University of Western Australia’s Sport inclusion team in order to continue to build an environment that welcomes, accepts and embraces the diversity of the community in baseball and softball.
“This round was an opportunity to showcase solidarity and representation in baseball. We are incredibly proud of the level of inclusion, competitiveness and sportsmanship championed by UWA and Kalamunda as well as the broader clubs in the competition. Diversity and inclusion are at the core of our values, and our club is taking active steps to lead LGBTQIA+ inclusion in sport through engagement in the University of Western Australia’s Allyship in Sport Program,” said Steph O’Neill, UWA Vice President of Women’s Baseball.
“As part of the first intake, we have appointed a Club Ally and are on the journey to proactively improving LGBTQIA+ inclusive practices in baseball and softball. We are looking forward to continuing to build support behind pride and other diversity and inclusion initiatives into 2025.”
You can read more about the Freedom Centre here.
More information about the University of Western Australia Sport LGBTQIA+ Allyship in Sport Program here.