Hi, friends! Thank you so much for being here with me. It’s time for my annual birthday-season sale, because Sagittarius season is the best season and no, I’m not biased or anything, obviously.
Until December 21st, I’m offering lifetime 20% discounts on annual subscriptions. This is a great time for you to upgrade to a paid subscription if you’ve been considering doing so. Here on Beehiiv, I have three paid subscription tiers. Here’s what they get you:
STH tier is on sale for $44/year (usually $55), All-Access tier is on sale for $70.40/year (usually $88), and Biggest Fan is on sale for $120/year (usually $150)
Out of Your League is a labor of love. I am an independent trans journalist who is trying to report on my own community and write the stories mainstream publications won’t commission. I recently left Substack in order to be on a platform that more closely aligns with my values (aka not run by or overrun with Nazis), which was a terrifying prospect. I don’t run ads because I wouldn’t feel comfortable promoting any companies that don’t fully align with the values I espouse in my writing—those that are anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, anti-Zionist, anti-racist, pro-trans, feminist, and inclusive. I am entirely reader-supported.
This newsletter is not AI slop and it is written by a human (me!), and I pay other people to help me create the product you receive in your inbox on a regular basis—a fantastic editor (Louis Bien), a graphic designer who made all these beautiful logos (A. Andrews), tech support on the backend (Theo Pavlich), and I’ve recently commissioned a fabulous audience development expert to try to help me grow after leaving the Substack network.
Because here is the truth of it: I’ve lost nearly 40 paid subscribers since leaving Substack and another 200+ free ones. I was harassed and berated for being on the platform, but the hemorrhaging of subscribers after leaving confirmed all my worst fears about whether I could sustain this work off of Substack (Theo has some thoughts on this, too, that are worth reading). As the media industry continues to crumble around me, this newsletter is fully two-thirds of my income.
I am terrified that I’ve made a huge mistake. But I am also a believer not only in the power of community, but in the importance of living your values and in the value of the work I do.
If you’re still on the fence, let me sell you the glory of a paid subscription to Out of Your League. This, my friends, is the fun stuff:
The OOYL Discord Community
Both the All-Access VIP and Biggest Fan tier come with Discord access and, in my opinion, the Discord alone is worth the price of a subscription. It is the most wholesome place on the internet to watch sports and talk shit. I learn so much from this community of subscribers on a daily basis and they make me better at my job. My subscribers are some of the smartest, most engaged people out there and I am so grateful to get to shepherd this group.
But don’t take my word for it! The members of the Discord can tell you all about it.
The OOYL Book Club and Events
One of my favorite things that I get to do is hype up my friends who have written dope LGBTQ+ sports books while also allowing my subscribers to chat directly with them about the work. This book club isn’t just one where we read and discuss the books, but where the authors join us directly so you can ask them questions yourself in an intimate, friendly setting.
Over the first year I’ve been hosting the Book Club, we’ve read such an array of books and covered so many topics and had so many wonderful discussions. But I’ve hosted other events, too, like documentary film screenings, March Madness bracket pools, and live watch parties. It’s all done over Zoom so you can access it from anywhere, and I usually send recordings out in case you can’t join us live.
We have some great books picked out already for 2026:
All paid subscription tiers provide access to all the written content I put out here. These subscriptions also allow me to be able to afford to put in reporting time and hire Louis to edit my longer, more involved posts. I’ve unpaywalled all of these so you can see the kind of work I do. Maybe I’m biased, but I think there’s something here even for people who don’t think they care much for sports.
I was the first person to break down the numbers regarding Christine Brennan’s biased and racist coverage of the WNBA (I shared this research with the Good Game with Sarah Spain podcast prior to their very good interview with Brennan about this coverage)
Out of Your League is so much more than just a newsletter. It’s a community. It’s my livelihood. And I can’t do it without all of you. So I’d really appreciate it if you purchased a paid subscription to my newsletter or bought one for a friend or shared this post with someone you think might like my work.
We’re all we’ve got, after all.