'Life-changing' Hamilton softball league becomes 3rd in Canada to join prestigious LGBTQ+ alliance

An LGBTQ-friendly softball league in Hamilton has joined the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA), becoming the only Hamilton sports league and just the third in Canada to be part of the alliance.

Jeff Lindstrom, commissioner of the Steel City Inclusive Softball Association (SCISA), said SCISA joined the NAGAAA in late August.

"One thing our community particularly is in need of is stability and that continuing safe space," he told CBC Hamilton.

"What this process signalled for a lot of people was … this isn't something we want to see start with a bang and fizzle out fast. We want this to be a staple in the Hamilton community."

NAGAAA began in 1977 as an international sports organization that offers a space for the LGBTQ community to play softball, according to its website.

It has at least 48 cities in its alliance, including Toronto and Vancouver. New ones like Hamilton haven't been added online yet.

SCISA, meanwhile, was born in Hamilton in 2019.

"We acknowledge that it doesn't always feel like the city we love, loves us back. Involvement with our league will provide an outlet for players and local businesses to show that the future of Hamilton is compassionate and progressive," reads the SCISA website.

"The love that lives here is stronger than hate."

Hamilton has wrestled with a reputation for hate — Statistics Canada data indicates the city had the country's highest per-capita rate of hate crimes in 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2014.

The city received national attention after violence erupted at its 2019 Pride festival in Gage Park and the police service was scrutinized for its response to the melee. Both Mayor Fred Eisenberger and then police Chief Eric Girt apologized after an independent review found the