TORONTO, ON, June 9 | In a historic first, Pride Toronto Board Secretary Rachel Lauren Clark will be the first openly trans person to throw a ceremonial pitch ahead of a Toronto Blue Jays game, when the Jays play the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre tonight (June 9) at 7 PM.
“I’m very pleased to represent the LGBT community and especially transgender and genderqueer people, for whom which going out to the baseball game is not always accessible,” said Rachel Lauren Clark, Pride Toronto’s Board Secretary. “I hope this historic moment will send a message that everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity will, as Robert Frost once eloquently put, “I never feel more at home in America than at a ballgame.”
The first pitch will be thrown in the midst of Pride Month, which is designed to unite and empower people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. This year’s events feature the biggest, most inclusive Trans Pride experience in Pride Toronto’s 35-year history, with the trans community more visible, vocal, and outspoken than ever before. Highlights of North America’s largest Pride celebration include a trans youth human rights discussion, the Trans Pride Community Fair, the festival Trans Space, and the world’s largest Trans Pride Rally and March.
“This honor for a member of the trans community is a first in the Blue Jays’ history and possibly for all of Major League Baseball,” said Aaron GlynWilliams, Pride Toronto Board of Directors Co-Chair. “I applaud the Toronto Blue Jays for helping us take this step forward in the fight for acceptance and respect for the trans community and all members of our community.”
Rachel Lauren Clark is a passionate LGBT advocate, an Information Technology innovator and former member of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. She has a degree in journalism, a long and successful career with several Fortune 500 technology companies, and is currently working towards a Master of Divinity degree from Emmanuel College.
Later in Pride Month, Ms. Clark will have a chance to compare her MLB experience with San Francisco’s Breanna Sinclaire, the opera singer who made sports history in 2015 as the first trans woman to sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at a professional sporting event. Ms. Sinclaire is part of Pride Toronto’s Village Medley lineup on Saturday, July 2nd on the TD Village Stage.
On a personal note – as a Transgender journalist covering Pride Toronto events, I could not be prouder of the great steps forward that the people at Pride Toronto have taken this year. It is truly a game-changing year for the Transgender community to have a seat at the table for all conversations involving us, with our voices being front and center (“By Us and With Us”). I’m expecting to see Rachel lay down a smoker to the plate tonight!
