Chip McKenney didn’t set out to found the world’s first and only gay polo league. Initially, he was just looking to make friends.
In 2006, the avid horse lover and show jumper (and media consultant) found himself a bit socially adrift. He was living in Los Angeles, and realizing he didn’t have many connections to the LGBTQIA+ community. Uninterested in standing around at cocktail parties, he tried attending events hosted by the LGBTQ+ Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, but, he says, “never found my tribe.”
Team Greenberg Traurig, from left: Ryan Cronin-Prather, Jesse Lee Eller, Juan Diego Rizo Patron, and Peter Secor.
From left: Juan Diego Rizo Patron, Eva Marquand, and Adrian Pia.
On a whim, McKenney drove up to Santa Barbara to take a polo lesson and halfway through—thwack!—had a brainstorm. He would invite a few friends to play, who would in turn invite a few more, and eventually his little idea would turn into the official Gay Polo League. “I started to organize events at the club, people would play, come to watch, and then there would be brunch,” he says. “It was always very social, and informal, and this rag-tag thing.”
Today, the league, which is based in the elite equestrian community of Wellington, Florida, counts members in 15 countries; has traveled to Saint-Tropez and Argentina for competitions; and boasts players ranging in age from 23 to 75. This September, they will go to London, with the possibility of Cape Town, South Africa, in the near future.
Constant Jacquot.
While McKenney estimates that 90 percent of the league’s players identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, he notes that all allies are welcome to join as well. “We’re not a gay pride event,” he says. “We are a high-end sporting event within the LGBTQIA+ community, and we challenge ourselves to be the best athletes we can be. We don’t sexualize our sport or team. No one’s running around without their shirts on.”
Team Cherry Knoll Farm, from left: Tony Natale, Donald Bramer, Lala Laplacette, and Tyler Thompson.
Team McKenney Media, from left: Aurelian Crochon, Eva Marquand, Constant Jacquot, and David Bouclier.
For McKenney, now 66, the league has become about much more than polo. “Growing up, I instinctively felt that, as someone who is gay, team sports were dangerous. The locker room was scary. There was a total absence of seeing gay athletes in mainstream media.”
His hope is that the Gay Polo League will help change that perception: “I’m asked all the time, why a gay polo league? Because a gay polo league raises awareness. Awareness hopefully leads to discussion. Discussion leads to understanding. Understanding leads to inclusion.”
This story and more appears in PALMER On the Road, available now.