A week or two later, the date was set, the Facebook invite was sent out, “Stonewall Kickball DC Black Boy Magic Picture”, in all caps, with three exclamation marks. Baker, ever the diplomat, obliged and said that she would get to work on it. All agreed that it was an amazing picture and that another, larger one, need to be taken. Several people commented that their hair was off. Several people commented that they were sad they weren’t in town at the time. Several people joked about how upset they were that they missed the picture because they were in the bathroom. Several days later the picture finally made its way online, and it immediately generated a lot of buzz. Like any Baker selfie, we just had to wait until the regularly scheduled weekly upload, usually Wednesday or Thursday, like the rest. Some players wanted Baker to share to share the picture with them immediately.
BLACK GAY BARS DC WINDOWS
After a couple of snaps - sometimes you have to try several windows - the deed was done, Baker showed us the final product and we all recognized instantly in that moment how special that picture was, though I sincerely doubt any of us knew how significant that photo would later come to be, not just to the few of us gather there, but the league and community as a whole. It was by sheer happenstance that I was nearby, ordering another vodka cranberry at the bar by the stage where she was that I was pulled in. Now, I can’t recall today what served as the the specific catalyst, but whatever the reason now lost to history Baker decides to grab as many of the men of color in her immediate vicinity and take a picture. I had my first one only taken a few weeks prior at this point. You’re not somebody in the league until Baker takes a photo with you. “Always find your window,” she says, and, somehow, she always does. The league socialite, Khorey Baker, is doing what she does best, catching up on the week’s drama and taking pictures, chronicling the lives and experiences of players, with her iconic smile. The last league games of the day have wrapped up and now players from the various teams are doing what most of them actually joined the league to do which isn’t to play kickball, mind you, but rather drink perhaps too heavily, play flip-cup - or strip cup, if they’ve kept up with their gym routine - gossip, and, if they’re lucky make out with the hot guy from the team that looks like they all go VIDA gym, before succumbing to the temptation of getting McDonald’s, and swearing to themselves that next week Sunday will somehow be different. It’s a typical Sunday, back in the Spring of 2016, on 17th Street in Cobalt during a Stonewall Sports Kickball season.