Why the First Gay Olympics Was a Watershed Moment Sports – History | LGBTQ Breakg News

Contents:

• 1982 GAY GAM
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• 1982 GAY GAM OPENG CEREMONY AND MARATHON
• HISTORY OF THE GAY GAM
• THE GAY GAM: THEN AND NOW
• HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS
• LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: THE HISTORY OF THE GAY GAM - THE EVENT THAT GREW BUT STUCK TO S PRCIPL
• 10 THGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE GAY GAM, HEADG TO HONG KONG 2022
• HISTORY OF THE GAY GAM
• WHY THE FIRST GAY OLYMPICS WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT SPORTS – HISTORY
• A LOOK BACK AT LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE GAY GAM

1982 GAY GAM

The event also featured a performance by Ta Turner durg the openg ceremony, and Stephanie Mills durg the closg ceremony along wh San Francis Gay Freedom Day Marchg Band and Twirlg Corps and Meg Christian sgg a "Gay Anthem". Curry acknowledged that the mors about his sexualy were te, but when journalists asked prient qutns betrayg the era’s misnceptns about homosexualy and masculy, Curry fought back: “I don’t thk I lack virily, and what other people thk of me don’t matter, ” he said.

There, a fiery, unflchg athletic spectacle, Curry abandoned his ual lively route of skips and hops for a stern technil masterpiece, makg him the first openly gay athlete to perform on the Olympic stage. LGBT journalists and historians, cludg Zeigler and Tony Scupham-Bilton, have talogued the many Olympians who were homosexual but peted a time before beg “out” was safe and acceptable. Wh this year’s Wter Gam Pyeongchang, Rippon and Kenworthy are the first openly gay Amerin men to pete the Olympics sce the legaly of same-sex marriage was tablished throughout the Uned Stat 2015, and the cultural shift is apparent.

The summer before hostg the Wter Olympics, what many saw as an afont to gay rights activism, the Rsian ernment passed a law prohibg the promotn of “nontradnal” sexual relatnships to mors. The Uned Stat ed the Olympic platform as an opportuny for subtle prott, cludg proment gay athlet Brian Boano, Billie Jean Kg and Cal Cahow s Olympic legatn, and protts were staged across the world.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS

Rippon recently ma headl when he refed an offer to meet wh Vice Print Mike Pence due to disagreements wh his stanc on LGBT rights – which clu past statements that appear to support fundg gay nversn therapy. The Gay Gam uld be an act of prott then, too, Wadll cid, an event durg which LGBTQ people uld play the same sports they watched durg the Olympics and achieve the same kd of glory he had at the 1968 Olympics. HIV/AIDS awarens has been baked to the Gay Gam sce s ceptn: In addn to banng discrimatn based on genr, sexualy, race and other tras, the Gay Gam wouldn’t allow any participant to be turned away based on their HIV stat.

The Gay Gam also succsfully lobbied the US ernment to briefly waive a prev ban on HIV-posive people enterg the untry so they uld pete the 1994 Gay Gam New York and the 1996 Olympics Atlanta, chang ma wh the help of the US Olympic Commtee. Participatn the Gay Gam steadily grew every year was held, and 1994, at the New York Gay Gam, the number of participants exceed the number of athlet at the 1994 Wter Olympics.

The openg ceremony of the Gay Gam is still emotnal all the years later, Pl said, pecially when participants om untri where homosexualy is not accepted march the Para of Natns. The first Gay Olympics was to take place San Francis 1982 as a sports petn and arts ftival, but the Uned Stat Olympic Commtee (USOC) sued Wadll’s anizatn over s e of the word “Olympic. A mere neteen days before the openg ceremoni of the 1982 San Francis Gay Olympics, the USOC nvced a feral urt to issue an junctn agast Wadll and the event anizers, the San Francis Arts & Athletics, Inc., claimg their e of the word “Olympics” vlated pyright law.

WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE

” Ignorg the implitns of homophobia, USOC Executive Director Don Miller murred that the e of “Olympics” nnectn wh the Gay Olympics would “dilute the meang and signifince” of the Gam.

For example, the New York Tim’ headle clared “Rare Cancer Seen 41 Homosexuals, ” while the Chigo Tribune noted that although KS primarily affected men olr than 50, medil centers New York and California diagnosed younger men, “all of whom said the urse of diagnostic terviews that they were homosexual. ” Due to this supposed nnectn, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) rmally intified the illns as the “4H Disease” as seemgly affected Haians, hemophiliacs, hero ers, and “homosexuals.

1982 GAY GAM OPENG CEREMONY AND MARATHON

As historian Carole Symons explaed her book The Gay Gam: A History (2010), some believed “the stagg of the Gay Gam durg a time which the gay muny of San Francis was at one of s lowt pots was a b like dancg on the grav of the ad and the dyg” (p. ” Some pani started to view the gay muny as a viable market to target bee “[g]ays and lbians were portrayed as the mols, even the fashn-leadg cizens, of nsumer-driven society” (p.

Bee of the ncerns and addnal fancial difficulti, followg the Sydney Gam, an FGG document tled “The Image of the Gay Gam” reemphasized the origal missn of the Gam, showg the anizatn’s “sire to return the Gay Gam to their begngs” (Symons, p. The Gay Gam may have enhanced s clivy; however, those who peted sports sanctned by ternatnal feratns, such as swimmg, were required to follow the stipulatns put forward by the leadg body. Acrdg to Symons, “[t]he two separate events were the rult of an acrimon breakdown relatns between Montreal 2006 and the FGG over their failure to negotiate the licensg agreement for Gay Gam VII” (p.

Symons argued that bee the FGG and Chigo wanted “to ‘keep alive the legacy of Wadll, ’” along wh mid-2000s “[a]nti-Amerin sentiments, prcipally fuelled by opposn to the ternatnal and anti-gay domtic polici of Gee W.

HISTORY OF THE GAY GAM

As Cleveland ( Oh, which remas a state that bans same-sex marriage) has been natnally nsired a “blue llar factory town a nservative farm state” which Time scribed as not “particularly novative or gay-iendly, ” officials believed hostg the Gam would help the progrsn of the cy. Lears the LGBT movement also saw headg to Cleveland as a way “to boldly go to a place that is perhaps not regnizable throughout the world as a gay center, but where real change is startg to happen, ” reported Darl Schaaff, the head of the Gay Gam se-selectn mtee.

Certaly wh the ntuatn and growth of the Gay Gam, recent social movements, and proment sport ins discsg their sexualy, the environment for LGBT athlet and the larger muny has improved. The Stonewall rts were more than a the past; a year earlier, reports had surfaced about rare pnmonia and ncer afflictg homosexuals New York and California—the first glimmers of what would later be lled AIDS.

” “Direct ntact” wh athlet om the natns, Day argued, would be enlighteng for Amerins livg a untry where ternatnal visors were often nied entry bee of their sexual s later, sports are once aga stirrg to take stock of gay rights around the world. Ultimately, the stlit Olympics history may be remembered for markg a perd which gay rights aren’t so much advancg globally as expandg certa parts of the world while regrsg or languishg 6, 000 athlet om 85 untri gather Sochi, the global gay-rights divi will be unmistakable. But gay rights only me to the fore the summer of 2013, when the Rsian ernment, which crimalized homosexualy 1993, banned the dissematn of “propaganda of nontradnal sexual relatns” around children—makg more difficult for gay activists to operate and, rights groups allege, fuelg a rise anti-gay vlence the untry.

THE GAY GAM: THEN AND NOW

Put has sce clared that gays attendg the Olympics should feel "at ease” (so long as they “leave the children peace”), but that’s done ltle to prevent Sochi om beg a battleground for gay rights. The mayor of Sochi sayg there were no gay people his cy didn’t help, perhaps the most provotive rebe to Rsia’s lims on LGBT rights, Print Obama has clud three openly gay athlet—Billie Jean Kg, Cal Cahow, and Brian Boano— the U. Gay Olympic athlet have exprsed outrage as well; the Atralian snowboarr Belle Brockhoff, for stance, has vowed to “rip on [Put’s] ass” after petg and possibly flash an oblique six-fger salute reference to “Prciple Six, ” an anti-discrimatn clse the Olympic Charter.

Then there’s the solutn proposed by Saturday Night Live: an all-heterosexual Team USA figure-skatg squad:The laws agast homosexualy that have recently ma ternatnal headl aren’t necsarily new, Stern says, but they are “gettg more attentn today bee of the level of progrs that we’ve seen other parts of the world. In recent months, India’s Supreme Court has restated a ban on gay sex ( one fell swoop doublg, by one timate, the number of gay people the world who n be imprisoned for their sexualy) and Atralia’s High Court has overturned gay-marriage legislatn.

In Uganda, Print Yoweri Meveni has exprsed opposn to a proposed bill metg out life imprisonment for gays—only to characterize homosexualy as an “abnormaly” and lbianism as a product of “sexual starvatn. ” We know the story Rsia, where Vladimir Put has anoted himself the lear of an ternatnal nservative unteroffensive agast the Wt’s “genrls and fertile” the Bssels-based Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) noted s latt report on “state-sponsored homophobia, ” “ltle has changed the proportn between untri crimalizg same-sex sexual acts between nsentg adults and those which do not, i. ”The “current divisn of the world—om the pot of view of legislatn—to an LGBTI-iendly field and an LGBTI-uniendly field is the rult of different cultural, social and polil procs rooted the histori of the untri and the history of their relatns wh one another, ” the study ’s how that divid world looked as of May 2013, when ILGA me out wh s report (click on the map to expand):ILGAIn a June report tled “The Global Divi on Homosexualy, ” the Pew Rearch Center arrived at siar nclns, fdg “broad acceptance of homosexualy North Ameri, the European Unn, and much of Lat Ameri, but equally wispread rejectn predomantly Mlim natns and Ai, as well as parts of Asia and Rsia.

HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS

S., where public support has grown signifintly, and that “acceptance of homosexualy is particularly wispread untri where relign is ls central people’s liv”—natns that also tend to be the wealthit the world. Exceptns clu Rsia and Cha, where levels of religsy and tolerance for homosexualy are both Rearch CenterHere are the percentag of rponnts the 39 untri Pew surveyed who said society should accept homosexualy. Except South Ai, where gay marriage is legal but only 32 percent accept homosexualy, same-sex marriage has, not surprisgly, advanced the most untri where support of homosexualy is Rearch CenterRelign undoubtedly rms opns on LGBT rights—a dynamic rerced by the recent trend of globetrottg Amerin evangelils, stymied at home, craftg and promotg rtrictns on homosexualy foreign pals—but ’s not the only factor at play.

Vladimir Put, ILGA Executive Director Renato Sabbadi argu, se anti-gay legislatn as a means of platg the powerful Rsian Orthodox Church and fendg ‘tradnal valu’ opposn to the Wt, where LGBT rights are generally advancg. Stern pots to the Kampala-based Civil Society Coaln on Human Rights and Constutnal Law’s outspoken opposn to Uganda’s anti-gay bill, while Sabbadi c how Indian gay-rights activists swiftly mobilized to prott the rtoratn of the untry’s ban on homosexual acts. ” In Brazil, for example, same-sex marriage is legal, but more transgenr people are murred than anywhere else the also tak issue wh the notn that Sochi is simply a dramatizatn of today's global gay-rights divi.

Synchronised swimmg is among 36 sports nfirmed for the 2022 Gay Gam Hong KongThe Gay Gam is the world's largt all-clive sportg event but many athlet face an uncerta journey towards Fzgerald has been swimmg sce he was five years old and says he knows he's "probably been gay sce about the same time" he didn't know how to tell his lol pool what he was trag for. "When I told the manager I was preparg for my first Gay Gam, I was fearful they'd say: 'OK, we really don't want you practisg here, you n leave, '" says Fzgerald om his home Vanuver. The LGBT Sport podst - The one on the history of the Gay GamFor nearly 40 years, the FGG has brought people om around the world together for a quadrennial celebratn of LGBT+ sport and culture.

LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: THE HISTORY OF THE GAY GAM - THE EVENT THAT GREW BUT STUCK TO S PRCIPL

But to unrstand the origs of the Gam, you have to go back to 1982 - and the dream of one Amerin bids to host 2018 Gay Gam'You have people om untri where 's crimal to be LGBT+'Tom Wadll was the founr of the Gay Gam, and had peted the Olympic thlon for the USATom Wadll loved New Jersey, he went to llege on a track scholarship - and reprented the Uned Stat the thlon at the 1968 Olympics Mexi Cy, where he fished sixth. Inially, he had hoped to stage a 'Gay Olympics' - but an junctn om the US Olympic Commtee over the e of the word 'Olympic' meant he had to e 'Gay Gam' while the name changed, Wadll's ia remaed the same - to provi an clive, multi-sport event that was open to all petors, regardls of sexualy.

Wadll did not want the Gay Gam to be a petor or alternative to the Olympics, but wanted to apply the ethos of the Olympics to an event where people of all sexuali and abili uld pete, a style that mirrored the stcture of the Olympics. But by this pot, the event he'd created was well tablished - and gettg bigger wh each passg 2013, then-Deputy Prime Mister Nick Clegg lent his support to London's unsuccsful bid to host the 2018 Gay Gam - and 2014, then-US Print Barack Obama rerd a vio msageexternal-lk to wele petors to the Gam Oh. "'It felt fiant to say: No, I'm not gog to be ightened' New York hosted the 1994 Gay GamNo two Gay Gam feel the the Olympics, each host cy brgs s own style and flavour to the event.

"It was amazg, bee there was this terrible thg gog on wh HIV and Aids, and people talkg about how sick was to be gay, what a dreadful thg was, and how we're all gog to die. “You were eher a drag queen or the leather muny—those were the stereotyp that were prented to the public at that time, ” says Rick Thoman, a track and field athlete who peted the first Gay Gam. “The Gam offer another place to ‘e out’ bis a dark bar, ” Jill Ramsay, the chair of swimmg and divg at the first Gam, told the Bay Area Reporter, one of the natn's first gay newspapers,  the mpaigns of gay polician Harvey Milk, a well-known muny anizer, the first Gay Gam were a grassroots project.

10 THGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE GAY GAM, HEADG TO HONG KONG 2022

In addn to boxg, basketball, swimmg and a number of other tradnal Olympic sports, the Gay Gam featured billiards, bowlg and a physique petn held at the historic Castro Theater. Thanks to the efforts of Cramer, Hahn, Carson, Thoman, and many others, the Gay Gam have taken place every four years sce 1982, wh recent edns drawg parable numbers of athlet to the Olympics and Paralympics.

Kath Wton wrote about her 1997 book Fai We Choose, which explor the notn that gay men and lbians, the absence of marriage equaly and acceptance om their fai, often fd themselv creatg blood ti of their own, kships formed by shared experience rather than Wt Hollywood aquatics team is one such fay. Formed 1982, preparatn for that year’s gural Gay Gam, the squad is the subject of a new documentary lled Light the Water, which charts their journey om pariahs to pneers as they battled the surge of Aids and the endurg myth that beg gay and athletic are mutually exclive. But Light the Water, directed by the first-time film-maker Lis Bartlett, should go a long way toward rectifyg the early 1980s, the Wt Hollywood Aquatics Club acted as a refuge for a dozen gay men and women who felt ee om persecutn s regulatn-sized lap pool.

HISTORY OF THE GAY GAM

But to be a gay athlete a world that saw those intifiers diametric opposn opened up a double whammy of many of the swimmers featured the documentary, some of whom are team members today, stg down wh Bartlett to remisce about the team’s origs was thartic, sad and joyful all at once.

The first was the 1982 Gay Gam San Francis, found by Tom Wadll, who was sued by the US Olympic Commtee for havg origally ed the word “Olympics”, although they had never brought legal actn agast the many other anizatns who also ed .

WHY THE FIRST GAY OLYMPICS WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT SPORTS – HISTORY

And while there rema no openly gay athlet the four major Amerin sports, she looks forward to a future “where nobody thks ’s a big al if someon out as gay, lbian or bisexual, where trans people are jt seen as part of the spectm of who we are as people” foundg members of the Wt Hollywood aquatics team are still swimmg today, which is how Bartlett, a swimmer herself, me across their story. Vanuver, New York, Amsterdam, Sydney, Chigo, Cologne, Cleveland and Akron have all played host for the Gay Gam, wh the most recent eratn — Gay Gam X — takg place Paris 2018. Back 1982, the Gay Gam saw athlet pete a number of sports — basketball, billiards, bowlg, cyclg, divg, golf, marathon, physique, powerliftg, soccer, softball, swimmg, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrtlg — but e 2022, the total number of sports have reached 36.

A LOOK BACK AT LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE GAY GAM

Here’s a historil tidb you may not know: Back 1982, when Ta Turner was attemptg to rurrect her reer as a solo artist (havg prevly performed wh her ex-hband Ike), she performed at the openg ceremony of the 1982 Gay Gam Goln Gate Park. Jt 19 days before those very first gam were to take place, the Olympic Commtee secured an junctn, but stead of ncelg the gam, they went forward unr a new name — the Gay Gam — and were a huge succs.