Before rainbow laces, viral TikToks, and international tournaments, there was a handful of gay men in Los Angeles brave enough to build a rugby club from the ground up—one scrum at a time. In Episode 11 of the Gay Rugby Podcast, hosts Jack Higgins and Ozzy Luna sit down with Gabriel Galluccio, co-founder of the Los Angeles Rebellion, to trace the untold story of queer rugby in Southern California.Galluccio, a sports producer who worked behind the scenes at Fox Sports, didn’t set out to become a community trailblazer. But after witnessing the silence around HIV, the isolation of gay athletes, and the aftermath of 9/11, he helped launch what would become a safe haven for queer men on the field—a place where strength, identity, and belonging weren’t contradictions.It was the heroic actions of Mark Bingham, an openly gay rugby player who lost his life on Flight 93, that became the catalyst for the first international gay rugby tournament. In 2002, the inaugural Bingham Cup brought queer athletes together from across the globe—transforming grief into legacy, and visibility into power.This episode doesn’t just chart history—it revisits the early 2000s, the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS, and how rugby became more than a sport for many gay men. It became resistance. It became joy. It became home.Whether you're a player, a fan, or someone who's never touched a rugby ball, this one’s for anyone who’s ever felt like the locker room wasn’t built for them.

When Brazilian rugby star Izzy Cerullo took the field at the 2016 Olympics, she had no idea she was about to become a queer icon. But after her then-girlfriend proposed on live television-mid-Games, mid-glory-Cerullo found herself at the center of a global moment that said everything about visibility, identity, and the politics of being queer on the world stage.

In Episode 10 of The Gay Rugby Podcast, Jack Higgins and Ozzie Luna unravel how an impromptu proposal turned into a cultural flashpoint. Was it empowerment? Exploitation? Or just love in a very public place?

We get into the messy, beautiful truth: how queer athletes often become symbols whether they like it or not, how the media spins a moment into a movement, and why Cerullo’s story still hits hard nearly a decade later.

Expect candid talk about LGBTQ representation in sports, the unintentional politics of being visible, and what happens when your private life becomes Olympic history.

New episodes drop weekly. This one? You won’t want to miss.

Episode 9 of the Gay Rugby Podcast drops straight into the action at NORAM Cup 2025 in Boston, where something unprecedented unfolded on the pitch: the third-ever all-trans rugby match. In a tournament known for celebrating inclusive sport, this year’s moment felt bigger-more urgent, more electric. Trans athletes came together from across North America, uniting in a game that wasn’t just about rugby, but about identity, visibility, and taking space in a world that hasn’t always made room.At the heart of the match was Val Pizzo, president of Baltimore Flamingos RFC and the founder of the All Trans Match. Val joins us in this episode to talk about how a radical idea—bringing together trans and nonbinary rugby players for one unified match-turned into a full-blown movement. From the first match in Charlotte in 2023 to Boston’s record-breaking showdown, the Trans Match has become a symbol of resistance and joy, one scrum at a time.Shot on location at the NORAM Cup, the largest LGBTQ and inclusive rugby tournament in North America, the episode captures what it means when community and sport collide. We go behind the scenes with players, reflect on the evolution of trans-inclusive rugby, and dig into what makes these moments matter—not just to rugby fans, but to anyone who believes sport should belong to everyone.The Gay Rugby Podcast is more than banter and breakdowns-it’s where the lines between grassroots rugby, queer culture, and collective resistance get blurred. In this episode, you’ll hear how International Gay Rugby (IGR) continues to back this growing wave of trans visibility in sports, and how clubs like the Baltimore Flamingos are building platforms that are reshaping what inclusive sport looks like.This isn’t just a game. It’s the start of something bigger.