Outsports wasn't just a chance to get back to sports writing, it propelled me forward

Outsports turned 25 years old on Monday. I’ve been a writer for the publication for the last fifth of that time.

It was my birthday, May 30, 2019, when I first got the ask from then-managing editor Dawn Ennis.

“Hey Karleigh! How about writing for Outsports?”

By that time I was two years out publicly and two years away from what I call “the craft.”

I spent a working life in sports journalism as a local anchor-reporter, and later producing on the biggest stage in sports. I’ll admit to being a little jaundiced by the time I thought I had left the craft, in 2017.

That was same year I decided to move forward in my transition.

I came into the profession in my 20s as a naive true believer, and in some ways I still am. I believe what I was told as a student at Northwestern. I still believe that the Fourth Estate matters. Journalism can still inspire people to action and drive positive change.

I came to Outsports with that mix of cynicism and hope in June 2019.

I also came here two years out, trans and still finding my footing.

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Pride On The Court at Sarah Lawrence College 2020 — On the road with Outsports and I got special pep talk that weekend

In my five years writing for Outsports, I’ve been reborn. I’ve grown up, still a little cynical, but a lot more hopeful because writing here has been a doorway to history unfolding.

These have been five years filled with a lot of moments, breaking stories and trying a lot of new things. I got back to broadcasting as a podcaster, thanks to Outsports. I’ve done a little work on the road on this journey. I’ve turned the clock back to when it was me, a camera and energy to burn, at the beginning of my career.

I slogged through snow and mud to see cyclists like me, queer like me and trans like me, charge to the podium at the biggest event on the calendar.

I had a reporter’s pad, a camera, a microphone and I was running on adrenaline with a smile on my face. Just like old times.

USAC Cyclocross Nationals 2022 — I froze for the story, but seeing Austin Killips race to third was worth it (Left photo by Karleigh Webb/Right photo by Dawn Ennis)

What got me in the game in the first place fuels me still. I started writing for Outsports as the trans inclusion debate was accelerating. I have covered many sides of it since the conversation has grown heated.

I’ve covered Fallon Fox passing the torch, Lia Thomas at the flip turn, lost sleep through Team LGBTQ Olympic and Paralympic triumphs, and got a pep talk from Head Coach Anthony Nicodemo in early 2020.

He told me that day, “Believe in you and keep climbing.”

The greatest value isn’t the column inches, bylines, or the GLAAD Media Award Nominations. Being a journalist here and now yielded something greater for me.

Outsports was a key that unlocked the door I always wondered about but didn’t think I get to open. Could I be in my craft, and be me in it?

The answer has been a resounding yes. This journey has been a bridge to so much more, because of what and whom I’ve been exposed to.

Covering some deep stories, especially the coming out stories, pushed me to embrace my own steps forward. After year of searching and struggling to find a voice, I’ve found one in a place I’ve always wanted it to be, covering sports and using that to shed new light.

Such has inspired me to also not just write about it or podcast about it, but also be about it. In summer 2022, I was doing a podcast interviewing a women’s football all-star who was also trans like me. That interview planted a seed.

Almost a year later, I was getting a congratulations text from her after my first game in pads and first touchdown in decades.

NGLJA Convention 2023 — Pre-panel with Erin Reed before talking about LGBTQ inclusion in sports. I’ve come a long way and Outsports has been a big part of it all

So many who have been chronicled here where the inspiration to the unsure me years before, and fueled a confident and proud me who was sharing a stage at a panel at my first NLGJA Convention last fall with our co-founder Cyd Zeigler.

Cyd says often: “It’s a lot easier to perform when you aren’t keeping a secret”

That applies to journalists, too, and I’m grateful for those who taught me that over the last 5 years and those who have been showing that for the last 25.

Thank Outsports for giving a journalist, freshly coming out, a way back into something she loves.

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