Gay Games
Encyclopedia
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.
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:
from August 4–11, 1990. Approximately 7,300 athletes took part in 27 sports, with another 1,500 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).
The event was also heralded by controversy from social conservatives. A Fraser Valley church's members took out full page ads in the Vancouver Sun and The Province
condemning the event as proof of an "impending sodomite invasion" and encouraging residents to gather at Empire Stadium to pray against the event. In relation, the government of then-Premier Bill Vander Zalm
refused to fund the event.
The Games coincided with the Stonewall
25th anniversary events and were themed on "Unity". Sir Ian McKellen
gave the closing address at Yankee Stadium on June 25, 1994.
from August 1–8, 1998. The opening
and closing ceremonies took place in Amsterdam Arena
.
, Toronto
, Long Beach
/Los Angeles,and Dallas.
in 1998.
On March 16, 2005, the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) announced that Cologne
, Johannesburg
, and Paris were the official candidate cities for Gay Games VIII in 2010
, 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.
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.
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.
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." 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. The subject was also included in a 2005 film by David Sector, called "Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace Grit & Glory".
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.
, Canada hosts an annual gay winter sports festival.
In a weakening global economy following international terrorist attacks, including 9/11, the FGG wanted Montrel to be able to plan for a successful Gay Games even if participation did not meet Montreal's optimistic projection of 24,000 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 Montreal 2006's financial activities. After Montreal 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 Montreal and Atlanta, chose to bid. Ultimately, the FGG awarded Gay Games VII to Chicago Games, Inc.
The Montreal 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 Montreal
, a situation exacerbated by the two events being a week apart. The closing ceremony of Gay Games Chicago on July 22, 2006 was only 7 days before the opening ceremony of World Outgames Montreal on July 29, 2006. This meant that those who competed or performed in Chicago would have little recovery time before Montreal. 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 Montreal, by far the lowest number for any major international tournament.
There were 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 12,000 participants, Montreal drew an estimated 8,000 athletes—a 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 Montreal World Outgames ended with 5.3M Canadian dollars of debt.
In addition, the lack of attendees and participants at both events resulted in GLISA (the organization which heads the Outgames) changing the years of the event to precede the years of the Gay Games, meaning that the World Outgames were held in 2009 in Copenhagen and the Gay Games held in Cologne in 2010, while the World Outgames are being held in 2013 in Antwerp and Gay Games held in 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio.
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
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
Tom Waddell
Dr. Tom Waddell was the gay American sportsman who founded the international sporting event called the Gay Games, which was named such after the United States Olympic Committee sued Dr. Waddell for using the word "Olympic" in the original name "Gay Olympics". The Gay Games are held every four...
, 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.
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
Federation of Gay Games
-Concept and official purpose:According to the Federation of Gay Games :-Schism in LGBT sports communities over Gay Games VII:In 2001, the Federation of Gay Games awarded the seventh edition of the Gay Games to Montréal, Quebec, Canada for 2006, but the FGG removed its sanction in late 2003 after...
(FGG) is the sanctioning body of the Gay Games. From its statement of concept and purpose:
Host cities
| # | Year | City | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1982 | San Francisco |  United States |
| II | 1986 | San Francisco | United States |
| III | 1990 | Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,... |
 Canada |
| IV | 1994 | New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
United States |
| V | 1998 | Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population... |
 Netherlands |
| VI | 2002 | Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people... |
 Australia |
| VII Gay Games VII The 2006 Gay Games , colloquially called the Chicago Gaymes, is part of a family of international sports and cultural festivals called Gay Games, sanctioned by the Federation of Gay Games and organized by the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community of the host city of Chicago, Illinois in the... |
2006 | Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles... |
United States |
| VIII | 2010 | Cologne Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the... |
 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 10–17, 1986.1990 Gay Games Vancouver
The 1990 Gay Games took place in VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
from August 4–11, 1990. Approximately 7,300 athletes took part in 27 sports, with another 1,500 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).
The event was also heralded by controversy from social conservatives. A Fraser Valley church's members took out full page ads in the Vancouver Sun and The Province
The Province
The Province is a daily, tabloid format newspaper published in British Columbia by Postmedia. It has been a daily newspaper since 1898.According to a recent NADbank survey, The Provinces average weekday readership was 520,100, making it British Columbia's most read newspaper...
condemning the event as proof of an "impending sodomite invasion" and encouraging residents to gather at Empire Stadium to pray against the event. In relation, the government of then-Premier Bill Vander Zalm
Bill Vander Zalm
Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie "Bill" Vander Zalm is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 28th Premier of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991.-Early life:...
refused to fund the event.
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
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
25th anniversary events and were themed on "Unity". Sir Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
gave the closing address at Yankee Stadium on June 25, 1994.
1998 Gay Games Amsterdam
The 1998 Gay Games took place in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
from August 1–8, 1998. The opening
Opening ceremony
An opening ceremony is the official opening of a building or event. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup are huge events involving thousands of participants and watched by a massive worldwide audience. On a much smaller scale, some ceremonies mark the opening of a...
and closing ceremonies took place in Amsterdam Arena
Amsterdam ArenA
Amsterdam Arena is a stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is the largest stadium in the nation and it was built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost of €140 million, and was officially opened on 14 August 1996. It has been used for association football, American football, concerts, and other events...
.
2002 Gay Games Sydney
The 2002 Gay Games took place in Sydney from November 2–9, 2002. Sydney won the bid to host the 2002 Gay Games from other contenders which were MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
/Los Angeles,and Dallas.
2006 Gay Games Chicago
Gay Games VII 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
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 November 14, 2005. This marked the second time the Games were held in Europe, with the first being in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in 1998.
On March 16, 2005, the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) announced that Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, and Paris were the official candidate cities for Gay Games VIII in 2010
Lawsuit over 'Gay Olympics' name
Dr. Tom WaddellTom Waddell
Dr. Tom Waddell was the gay American sportsman who founded the international sporting event called the Gay Games, which was named such after the United States Olympic Committee sued Dr. Waddell for using the word "Olympic" in the original name "Gay Olympics". The Gay Games are held every four...
, 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.
Event organizers were sued by the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
(USOC) under the U.S. Amateur Sports Act of 1978
Amateur Sports Act of 1978
The Amateur Sports Act of 1978, , establishes a United States Olympic Committee and provides for national governing bodies for each Olympic sport...
, 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.
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
Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club
Based in San Francisco, California, the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club is a chapter of the Stonewall Democrats, named after LGBT politician and activist Harvey Milk. Believing that the existing Alice B...
, believed homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
to be a motivation behind the lawsuit. They cite the authorized use of the word "Olympics" by the Special Olympics
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....
and other organizations as evidence of this homophobia.
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." The Supreme Court ruled for the USOC in San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee
San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee
San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee, 483 U.S. 522 , is a Supreme Court of the United States decision interpreting the trademark rights of the United States Olympic Committee to regulate the use of the word "Olympic" under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. San...
.
A 2009 documentary film called "Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial" was created in the USA and has previewed at several film festivals. The subject was also included in a 2005 film by David Sector, called "Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace Grit & Glory".
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
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
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 ColumbiaWhistler, British Columbia
Whistler is a Canadian resort town in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the province of British Columbia, Canada, approximately north of Vancouver...
, Canada hosts an annual gay winter sports festival.
Schism in LGBT sports communities over Gay Games VII
In 2001, the bidding organization from Montreal, 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:- The size of the event
- The 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 Montrel to be able to plan for a successful Gay Games even if participation did not meet Montreal's optimistic projection of 24,000 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 Montreal 2006's financial activities. After Montreal 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 Montreal and Atlanta, chose to bid. Ultimately, the FGG awarded Gay Games VII to Chicago Games, Inc.
The Montreal 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
2006 World Outgames
The 1st World Outgames took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 26, 2006 to August 5, 2006. The international conference was held from July 26 to the 29. The sporting events were held from July 29 to August 5.-History:...
of the World Outgames
World Outgames
The World Outgames are a sporting and cultural event hosted by the gay community. With over 12,000 participants, the 1st World Outgames, held in 2006, was the largest international event to be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since the 1976 Summer Olympiad. These first Outgames were not as...
, and the creation of its sanctioning body, the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association
Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association
The Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association is an international gay and lesbian sport association. The focus of GLISA is developing gay and lesbian sport worldwide...
.
Due to limited personal and organizational resources, many individual and team participants were forced to choose between Gay Games Chicago
Gay Games VII
The 2006 Gay Games , colloquially called the Chicago Gaymes, is part of a family of international sports and cultural festivals called Gay Games, sanctioned by the Federation of Gay Games and organized by the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community of the host city of Chicago, Illinois in the...
and World Outgames Montreal
2006 World Outgames
The 1st World Outgames took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 26, 2006 to August 5, 2006. The international conference was held from July 26 to the 29. The sporting events were held from July 29 to August 5.-History:...
, a situation exacerbated by the two events being a week apart. The closing ceremony of Gay Games Chicago on July 22, 2006 was only 7 days before the opening ceremony of World Outgames Montreal on July 29, 2006. This meant that those who competed or performed in Chicago would have little recovery time before Montreal. 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 Montreal, by far the lowest number for any major international tournament.
There were 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 12,000 participants, Montreal drew an estimated 8,000 athletes—a 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 Montreal World Outgames ended with 5.3M Canadian dollars of debt.
In addition, the lack of attendees and participants at both events resulted in GLISA (the organization which heads the Outgames) changing the years of the event to precede the years of the Gay Games, meaning that the World Outgames were held in 2009 in Copenhagen and the Gay Games held in Cologne in 2010, while the World Outgames are being held in 2013 in Antwerp and Gay Games held in 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio.
See also
- Federation of Gay GamesFederation of Gay Games-Concept and official purpose:According to the Federation of Gay Games :-Schism in LGBT sports communities over Gay Games VII:In 2001, the Federation of Gay Games awarded the seventh edition of the Gay Games to Montréal, Quebec, Canada for 2006, but the FGG removed its sanction in late 2003 after...
, the sanctioning body of the Gay Games - Gay Games VIIGay Games VIIThe 2006 Gay Games , colloquially called the Chicago Gaymes, is part of a family of international sports and cultural festivals called Gay Games, sanctioned by the Federation of Gay Games and organized by the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community of the host city of Chicago, Illinois in the...
Chicago 2006 - Olympic Games
- Respect Gaymes (held in Berlin)
- EuroGamesEurogames (LGBT sporting event)The EuroGames are a gay and lesbian sporting event in Europe, hosted by license of the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation and organised by one or more of the federation's member clubs....
is an event similar to the Gay Games. Whereas Gay Games is a global event, Eurogames is primarily European. - European Gay and Lesbian Sport FederationEuropean Gay and Lesbian Sport FederationThe European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation is a sporting body for homosexuals in Europe. It was founded by German and Dutch LGBT sport clubs in 1989 after being inspirated by the first Gay Games in San Francisco, United States. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, the sanctioning body of the EuroGames - World OutgamesWorld OutgamesThe World Outgames are a sporting and cultural event hosted by the gay community. With over 12,000 participants, the 1st World Outgames, held in 2006, was the largest international event to be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since the 1976 Summer Olympiad. These first Outgames were not as...
, sanctioned by the Gay and Lesbian International Sport AssociationGay and Lesbian International Sport AssociationThe Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association is an international gay and lesbian sport association. The focus of GLISA is developing gay and lesbian sport worldwide...