"Gay Olympics" redirects here. For other uses see Gay Olympics (disambiguation)

The Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organized by and specifically for LGBT athletes artists musicians and others. It welcomes participants of every sexual orientation and every skill level. Originally called the Gay Olympics it was started in San Francisco in 1982 as the brainchild of Tom Waddell whose goals were to promote the spirit of inclusion and participation as well as the pursuit of personal growth in a sporting event. It retains many similarities with the Olympics including the Gay Games flame which is lit at the opening ceremony.1

The Gay Games is open to all who wish to participate without regard to sexual orientation. There are no qualifying standards to compete in the Gay Games. It brings together people from all over the world many from countries where homosexuality remains illegal and hidden.

The Federation of Gay Games (FGG) is the sanctioning body of the Gay Games. From its statement of concept and purpose: The purpose of the Federation of Gay Games is to foster and augment the self-respect of lesbians and gay men throughout the world and to engender respect and understanding from the nongay world primarily through an organized international participatory athletic and cultural event held every four years and commonly known as the Gay Games.2 Contents 1 Host cities 1.1 1982 Gay Games San Francisco 1.2 1986 Gay Games San Francisco 1.3 1990 Gay Games Vancouver 1.4 1994 Gay Games New York 1.5 1998 Gay Games Amsterdam 1.6 2002 Gay Games Sydney 1.7 2006 Gay Games Chicago 1.8 2010 Gay Games Cologne 2 Controversies 2.1 Lawsuit over 'Gay Olympics' name 2.2 Plans to Launch Gay Winter Games in 1986 Fall 2.3 Schism in LGBT sports communities over Gay Games VII 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Host cities # Year City Country I 1982 San Francisco  United States II 1986 San Francisco  United States III 1990 Vancouver  Canada IV 1994 New York City  United States V 1998 Amsterdam  Netherlands VI 2002 Sydney  Australia VII 2006 Chicago  United States VIII 2010 Cologne  Germany IX 2014 Cleveland  United States 1982 Gay Games San Francisco

The 1982 Gay Games took place in San Francisco from August 28 to September 2 1982. 1986 Gay Games San Francisco

The 1986 Gay Games took place in San Francisco from August 1017 1986. 1990 Gay Games Vancouver

The 1990 Gay Games took place in Vancouver from August 411 1990. Approximately 7300 athletes took part in 27 sports with another 1500 cultural participants attending. Opening and closing ceremonies were at BC Place Stadium (20 years later to be the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics ceremonies). Gay Games III was the first Gay Games to be held outside the United States and it is also notable for being the first Gay Games in which Masters world records were set (two in swimming). 1994 Gay Games New York

The 1994 Gay Games took place in New York City from Jun 18-25 1994.

The Games coincided with the Stonewall 25th anniversary events and were themed on "Unity".3 Sir Ian McKellen gave the closing address at Yankee Stadium on June 25 1994.4 1998 Gay Games Amsterdam

The 1998 Gay Games took place in Amsterdam from August 18 1998. The opening and closing ceremonies took place in Amsterdam Arena. 2002 Gay Games Sydney The 2002 Gay Games took place in Sydney from November 29 2002. Sydney won the bid to host the 2002 Gay Games from other contenders which were Montreal Toronto Long Beach/Los Angelesand Dallas. 2006 Gay Games Chicago Main article: 2006 Gay Games Gay Games VI were held in Chicago USA from July 15 to July 22 2006. For more on the controversy surrounding Chicago's selection as host city see Schism in LGBT sports communities over Gay Games VII below. 2010 Gay Games Cologne Main article: 2010 Gay Games Gay Games VIII were held in Cologne Germany from July 31 to August 6 2010. Cologne was elected at the FGG annual meeting in Chicago on 14 November 2005. This marked the second time the Games were held in Europe with the first being in Amsterdam in 1998. On 16 March 2005 the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) announced that Cologne Johannesburg and Paris were the official candidate cities for Gay Games VIII in 2010 Controversies Lawsuit over 'Gay Olympics' name Dr. Tom Waddell the former Olympian who helped found the Gay Games intended the Gay Games to be called the "Gay Olympics" but a lawsuit filed less than three weeks before 1982's inaugural Gay Olympics forced the name change.5 Event organizers were sued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) under the U.S. Amateur Sports Act of 1978 which gave the USOC exclusive rights to the word Olympic in the United States. Defendants of the lawsuit contended that the law was capriciously applied and that if the Nebraska Rat Olympics and the Police Olympics did not face similar lawsuits neither should the Gay Olympics.6 Some like Jeff Sheehy coauthor of San Francisco's domestic partner legislation and former president of the Harvey Milk Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club believed homophobia to be a motivation behind the lawsuit. They cite the authorized use of the word "Olympics" by the Special Olympics and other organizations as evidence of this homophobia.6 Others like Daniel Bell cite the IOC's long history of protecting the Olympics brand as evidence that the lawsuit against the "Gay Olympics" was not motivated by discrimination against gays. Since 1910 the IOC has taken action including lawsuits and expulsion from the IOC to stop other organizations from using the word "Olympics."7 The Supreme Court ruled for the USOC in San Francisco Arts & Athletics Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee. A 2009 documentary film called "Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial" was created in the USA and has previewed at several film festivals.89 The subject was also included in a 2005 film by David Sector called "Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace Grit & Glory".10 In the years since the lawsuit the Olympics and the Gay Games have set aside their initial hostilities and worked cooperatively together successfully lobbying to have HIV travel restrictions waived for the 1994 Gay Games in New York and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Plans to Launch Gay Winter Games in 1986 Fall Plans to launch a complementary Gay Winter Games slated for February 1986 in Denver Colorado collapsed due to a lack of sufficient funding and logistical problems. There have been no subsequent attempts to launch a Gay Winter Games since although Whistler British Columbia Canada hosts an annual gay winter sports festival. Schism in LGBT sports communities over Gay Games VII This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009) In 2001 the bidding organization from Montral Canada won the right to negotiate with Federation of Gay Games (FGG) for a licensing agreement to host the 2006 Gay Games but after two years of failed negotiations Montreal broke off talks at the 2003 FGG annual meeting in Chicago. There were three main points of contention over which neither party could agree: Size of the event Size of the budget especially the planned break-even participation point Financial transparency In a weakening global economy following international terrorist attacks including 9/11 the FGG wanted Montral to be able to plan for a successful Gay Games even if participation did not meet Montral's optimistic projection of 24000 participants twice the level of participation of the previous Gay Games in 2002. Due to financial problems in previous events the FGG also asked for transparency into Montral 2006's financial activities. After Montral refused to continue talks the FGG held a second round of bidding in which Chicago and Los Angeles bidders who had put forth well-received bids to host the 2006 games in the first round along with Montral and Atlanta chose to bid. Ultimately the FGG awarded Gay Games VII to Chicago Games Inc. The Montral organizing committee nevertheless decided to proceed to hold an athletic and cultural event without the sanction of the FGG; this plan developed into the first edition of the World Outgames and the creation of its sanctioning body the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association. Due to limited personal and organizational resources many individual and team participants were forced to choose between Gay Games Chicago and World Outgames Montral a situation exacerbated by the two events being a week apart. The closing ceremony of Gay Games Chicago on 22 July 2006 was only 7 days before the opening ceremony of World Outgames Montral on 29 July 2006. This meant that those who competed or performed in Chicago would have little recovery time before Montral. The split resulted in a lower quality of athletic competition at both events because neither could claim the whole field of competitors. Team and individual sports were hurt alike. Few teams were able to field complete squads for both events; In wrestling 100 wrestlers competed in Chicago (comparable to previous Gay Games) but only 22 competed in Montral by far the lowest number for any major international tournament. There was some advantages to the games being so close together time wise and location wise. For some overseas participants who had to travel far the convenience of the two events being only a week apart and not far from each other enabled them to attend both. Many did not attend at all. After Chicago drew approximately 12000 participants Montral drew an estimated 8000 athletesa third of the organization's original projections." Since 2006 the need for a secondary global multisport event has been the subject of much debate especially after the final financial figures for 2006 were released. The Chicago Gay Games VII ended with no debt and all bills paid. In contrast the Montral World Outgames ended with 5.3M Canadian dollars of debt." See also LGBT portal Sports and games portal Federation of Gay Games the sanctioning body of the Gay Games Gay Games VII Chicago 2006 Olympic Games Respect Gaymes (held in Berlin) EuroGames is an event similar to the Gay Games. Whereas Gay Games is a global event Eurogames is primarily European. European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation the sanctioning body of the EuroGames World Outgames sanctioned by the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association References "Cologne gears up to play and party as host to Gay Games" Federation of Gay Games. "FAQs". http://www.gaygames.com/index.phpid24. Retrieved 2010-07-05.  "Gay Games IV - Unity '94". Federation of Gay Games. http://www.gaygames.com/en/games/gg4/. Retrieved 6 February 2009. dead link "Gay Games IV Closing Address". Ian McKellen.com. http://www.mckellen.com/writings/940625gaygames.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2009.  Blackwell Savannah (2001-09-05). "Crushing the Gay Olympics: The USOC's homophobic past". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Archived from the original on 2006-05-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20060527003250/http://www.sfbg.com/News/35/49/49olysb2.html. Retrieved 2006-01-04.  a b Clark Joe (1994). "Glory of the Gay Games". http://www.joeclark.org/glory.html. Retrieved 2006-01-04.  Bell Daniel (1998). "Why can't the Gay Games be the Gay Olympics". International Games Archive via archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-03-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20060307090517/http://www.internationalgames.net/topics/gayolympics.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-12.  "Home". Acquarius Media. http://www.claimingthetitle.com/ClaimingTheTitle/Home.html. Retrieved June 7 2011.  Claiming the Title at the Internet Movie Database Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace Grit & Glory at the Internet Movie Database External links Gay Games Chicago 2006 Gay Games Cologne 2010 Federation of Gay Games Gay Games Cologne 2010 Photo Gallery Postcard from Europe: Questioning the necessity of the Gay Games v d eGay Games San Francisco 1982  San Francisco 1986  Vancouver 1990  New York 1994  Amsterdam 1998  Sydney 2002  Chicago 2006  Cologne 2010  Cleveland 2014 See also: Federation of Gay Games v d eMulti-sport events  Global Olympic Games  Paralympic Games  World Games Associations Commonwealth Games  Inter-Allied Games1  Island Games  Jeux de la Francophonie  Lusophony Games  Pan-Arab Games Communities Islamic Solidarity Games  Gay Games  Maccabiah Games  Pan-Armenian Games  Women's Islamic Games  World Outgames Disabled sport Deaflympics  Dfi sportif  Extremity Games  Special Olympics  IWAS World Games Professions Military World Games  World Police and Fire Games Youth and students Australian Youth Olympic Festival  Commonwealth Youth Games  CPLP Games  European Youth Olympic Festival  Gymnasiade  SELL Student Games  Universiade   World Interuniversity Games  Youth Olympic Games Other sport World Mind Sports Games  X Games Olympic alternatives1 Friendship Games  Games of the New Emerging Forces  Goodwill Games  Olympic Boycott Games  People's Olympiad  Regional Africa African Youth Games  All-Africa Games  Central African Games Americas Bolivarian Games  CANUSA Games  Central American and Caribbean Games  Central American Games  North American Indigenous Games  Pan American Games  Parapan American Games  South American Games Asia ASEAN ParaGames  Asian Beach Games  Asian Games  Asian Indoor Games1  Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games  Asian Martial Arts Games1  Asian Para Games  Asian Youth Games  Children of Asia International Sports Games  East Asian Games  Central Asian Games  Southeast Asian Games  South Asian Games  West Asian Games Europe Balkan Games  Black Sea Games  EuroGames  European Youth Olympic Festival  Games of the Small States of Europe Oceania Micronesian Games  Pacific Games         Inter-continental Afro-Asian Games  Arafura Games  Arctic Winter Games  FESPIC Games1  Indian Ocean Island Games  Mediterranean Games  Nordic Games  Pan Arab Games  National Asia India  Indian Empire1  Indonesia  Japan  Malaysia  People's Republic of China (rural; amateur)  South Korea  Philippines  Thailand (youth)  Singapore Americas Canada (western)  Colombia  United States (amateur juniors; seniors) Europe Albania1  Nazi Germany1  Netherlands  Poland (youth)  Soviet Union (youth)1 Oceania Western Australia (high school)2     National Congress of State Games2 Alabama  Arizona  California  Colorado  Connecticut  Florida  Georgia  Hawai'i  Idaho (summer; winter)  Illinois  Indiana  Iowa  Kansas  Kentucky  Maine  Massachusetts  Minnesota  Mississippi  Missouri  Montana  Nebraska  New Hampshire  New Jersey  New Mexico  New York  North Carolina  North Dakota  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania  Texas  Utah (summer; winter)  Virginia  Washington  Wisconsin  Wyoming 1Defunct. 2Sub-national. 351 component games in 36 U.S. states.  Category:Multi-sport events  List of Multi-sport events Portal:Multi-sport events  WikiProject Multi-sport events