By Megan Bocchinfuso –
The Cabbagetown Group Softball League (CGSL) was founded in 1975 by a group of gay friends wanting to play softball. The league now has over 250 members and 17 teams, and is the longest-running LGBTQ+ sports league in Toronto.
Founding members, some of whom are still in the league, fought for permits and created the group due to high demand for queer softball in the 1970s, a time of few gay sports leagues.
“The energy is incredible,” CGSL commissioner Lisa Cameron says. “It is life. We are a huge family.”
CGSL is a founding member of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, founded in 1977. The Alliance, non-profit and volunteer-ran, provides opportunities for LGBTQ+ athletes to safely compete in softball leagues. The alliance has seven divisions encompassing 56 cities and more than 22,200 players, and hosts the Gay Softball World Series softball championships. Three Canadian cities are in the organization: Vancouver, Toronto and recently, Hamilton.
CGSL is also a non-profit volunteer organization. It partners with multiple charity organizations, including the Gay Youth Helpline. Along with Toronto police, it holds a yearly Christmas toy drive for the less fortunate within the gay village (Church and Wellesley). “We fill many cruisers with toys and a lot of cash donations as well,” Cameron says.
League sponsors include some straight groups, but are mostly LGBTQ+ small businesses in the village, where teams sometimes visit after their games to eat and drink.
CGSL is both competitive and non-competitive, and encourages anyone to join. The league separates its 17 teams by skill levels recognized within gay softball. Level E is novice, D is semi-competitive, and C is competitive. Any player can enter into tournaments within their own division, Cameron says.
The teams play on Friday and Saturday nights at 755 Lakeshore Blvd East in a season from May to August, with September playoffs, at a cost of $175. The league welcomes all comer over 18 years old. Contact CGSL at [email protected] or at 647-409-7429.
