Gay Gam Openg Ceremony at Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney

Contents:

• THE GAY MAN'S GUI TO ATRALIAN FOOTBALL'S HOTTT HUNKS
• GAY GAM OPENG CEREMONY
• FOOTBALL WAS THE CLOSET I HID AS A GAY KID THE UNTRY
• “I KNOW 10 OR 12 GAY AFL PLAYERS” REVEALS JACK VIDGEN ON I’M A CELEB…
• SAT BE 'GAY IN' AHEAD OF AFL'S GURAL PRI GAME
• EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE 2021 SYDNEY GAY AND LBIAN MARDI GRAS
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• SPORTS STARS AGAST HOMOPHOBIA PART OF SYDNEY GAY MARDI GRAS PARA
• WHY IS AFL THE ONLY PRO SPORT TO NEVER HAVE AN OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER?
• THE AFL’S GROWG PROBLEM WH VISIBILY OF GAY PLAYERS
• ‘NO WORDS’: GAY ATRALIAN FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO LLS OUT HOMOPHOBIC CROWD ABE
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

THE GAY MAN'S GUI TO ATRALIAN FOOTBALL'S HOTTT HUNKS

The Flyg Bats and Sydney Rangers Football Clubs, alongsi Pri Football Atralia, will host the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Football Associatn (IGLFA) World Champnships XXIV Sydney 2023.

GAY GAM OPENG CEREMONY

Wele to the official webse of Atralia’s first and Sydney’s only gay and clive men’s soccer club, Sydney Rangers FC. Although most the club intify as gay, there are many players and officials who intify as bisexual or straight. Send your suggtns via @newsHQ | @the_mattyoung7 David Pock (Super 15)The Wallabi skipper has been outspoken agast homophobia and is a strong advote of gay marriage.

EventsMoswFtivalsMicRA PodstReviewsMix of the dayPlaylistsMagazeFeaturFilmsRA ExchangeNewskd lang, Jimmy Somerville, Peretta Anggerek, Pl Capsis, Deborah Cheetham, Judi Connelli, Bob Downe, Leah Howard, Shna Jensen, Ian "Molly" Meldm, Gillian Mervi, Vana Wagna, 2000 volenteer performers, 13, 00 Gay Gam participantsWe've bought the biggt Gay and Lbian event the world to the southern hemisphere for the first time - Unr New Ski. Growg up a closeted gay ral Atralia is like playg football for the opposn. A game at lunch and recs was to imate this young guy we all thought was gay  the cst possible way.

FOOTBALL WAS THE CLOSET I HID AS A GAY KID THE UNTRY

I thk that time I veloped a real hatred for gay guys that uldn’t hi their flamboyancy, who uldn’t even pretend to be straight for the sake of their own all, I managed to do . My profile would say “masc lookg for masc”, meang I was jt another jerk who liked remdg gay guys they aren’t nsired one of my first dat I arrived – late as always – to fd the tall athletic man I’d pictured (and ankly been led to image), was fact a short soft-spoken twk. I only realised I was still homophobic myself a year later when I was dumped by my boyiend of the time.

I fally returned to a gay bar om which I’d fled a few years earlier high school, I knew somethg me was different. You n follow Kienan on Instagram or his This story was origally entered the 2020 and forms part of a special llectn curated for Mardi Gras celebratg LGBTIQA+ wrers and the nversatn on SBS Atralia socials #WeRiseFor #MardiGras2021 and via 2021 Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras live Saturday 6 March 6pm AEDT on SBS On Demand or tch the full para at 7:30pm on SBS and NITV (geo-block removed for viewers ternatnally).

“I KNOW 10 OR 12 GAY AFL PLAYERS” REVEALS JACK VIDGEN ON I’M A CELEB…

Jack Vidgen, one of the stars on Atralia’s I’m A Celebry… Get Me Out Of Here!, has revealed that he knows 10 or 12 gay Atralian Football League players, reports. Vidgen, who ma a name for himself on Atralia’s Got Talent, was talkg about homosexualy sport wh former AFL stars Travis Vare and Robert “Dipper” DiPerdomeni.

“I probably know about 10 or 12 footy players, I’d never say their name, that are gay but they wouldn’t e out, ” Vidgen said. SAM GILBERT, gay in. It might not be a scriptor the St Kilda fenr ever expected, but, acrdg to Jason Ball (Atralian Football's first openly gay male player), the scriptn is que, a 28-year-old centre half-back for Victorian untry club Yarra Glen, explaed how highly Gilbert is thought of by the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex and qutng (LGBTIQ) muny.

"He's bee a gay in a way, " Ball said of the veteran Sats fenr.

SAT BE 'GAY IN' AHEAD OF AFL'S GURAL PRI GAME

"It sent a msage to other people the sportg world that sayg no to homophobia don't make you ls of a man. "I me to unrstand a lot of the homophobic language and behavur wasn't g om a place of hatred towards me or gay people, but rather jt ignorance and not knowg the impact on me, " Ball said.

"Once I was out, that homophobic language fad. "(They weren't) necsarily directed at me, but every time I would hear those words, felt like a remr if they found out I was gay, I wouldn't be accepted. "Ball was 12 when he realised he was gay.

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE 2021 SYDNEY GAY AND LBIAN MARDI GRAS

"Acrdg to the study Out On The Fields, which documented the experienc of gay, lbian and bisexual people team sports, 87 per cent of young gay Atralians felt pelled to hi their sexualy some hid his sexualy om his football club for many years, but he had ma a promise to himself he would not lie about if ever knew tryg to fabrite tal about experienc wh women would get him ught was openly gay while studyg at Melbourne Universy, so when an old school iend me to the football club, Ball's sexualy soon beme an open secret, although he remaed unaware others night after trag, while talkg to a teammate, the nversatn shifted and Ball was asked about his personal life. He was able to proudly intify as a gay cisn to e out publicly was supported by Yarra Glen, which ntu to back Ball his 's experienc have shown him people are pable of change. "Gilbert believ the AFL is ready for s first openly gay player, but only when a person feels fortable enough to go down that path.

The Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras Para is back, beg one of the first ternatnally signifint Pri events to be staged sce the spread of COVID-19. Speakg ahead of the 2021 announcement, Courtney Act said: “I n’t wa to get my heels on the pch, wearg a lace-ont place of a baggy green, to celebrate this unique and vibrant Mardi Gras para wh my Indigeno, black, brown, trans, bisexual, asexual, tersex, lbian, gay and queer siblgs.

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

”The hosts of SBS's verage of the Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras are rng. Follow the nversatn on SBS Atralia socials #WeRiseFor #MardiGras2021 and via The 2021 Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras live Saturday 6 March 6pm AEDT on SBS On Demand or tch the full para at 7:30pm on SBS and NITV (geo-block removed for viewers ternatnally). His gay and lbian iends San Francis, though, had never experienced an event as thrillg or movg as the openg ceremony.

SPORTS STARS AGAST HOMOPHOBIA PART OF SYDNEY GAY MARDI GRAS PARA

And so Wadll created the Gay Gam – then lled the Gay Olympics, until the Internatnal Olympic Commtee sued over the name.

WHY IS AFL THE ONLY PRO SPORT TO NEVER HAVE AN OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER?

“The formula for succs was visibily and inty, ” Wadll said an terview followg the first Gay Gam 1982. That’s what the first Gay Gam were all about.

THE AFL’S GROWG PROBLEM WH VISIBILY OF GAY PLAYERS

Wadll died 1987, but the Gay Gam ntue to this day, growg to an ternatnal phenomenon sce their first eratn. They draw over 10, 000 athlet and sometim seven or eight tim as many spectators, said Shiv Pl, vice print of external relatns for the Feratn of Gay Gam. You don’t have to be a profsnal athlete – even a proficient one – to pete the Gay Gam.

You don’t even have to be gay. And unlike at the Olympics, activism is enuraged at the Gay Gam, as has been sce the begng when the HIV/AIDS crisis was ravagg LGBTQ muni. Above all, though, the Gay Gam are an event for queer and trans people to gather safely, play sports they love and be themselv whout fear of tolerance.

The first Gay Gam were held San Francis 1982, where transmissn of HIV had peaked among the cy’s btlg gay muny.

‘NO WORDS’: GAY ATRALIAN FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO LLS OUT HOMOPHOBIC CROWD ABE

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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Anyone n participate the Gay Gam – really, jt about anyone. Though Wadll emphasized that sports weren’t the central foc of the Gay Gam, the event has hosted athlet wh real prows.

Swimmer Jim Ballard set a world rerd the 100-meter backstroke 2002 at the Sydney Gay Gam.

Powerlifter Chris Man began his reer at the Gay Gam and went on to w another 30 medals at var world champnships. And unlike the “regular Olympics, ” at the Gay Gam, a same-sex figurg skatg pair n don matchg nim jumpsus a performance set to “Hopelsly Devoted to You. The upg Gay Gam will take place next year Hong Kong, where same-sex marriage is not legally regnized.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

The openg ceremony of the first Gay Gam was the stuff of Wadll’s dreams. Wadll died of AIDS 1987, one year after the send Gay Gam, but the Gam and his dream for their impact have only grown sce. 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 11th Gay Gam, to be held next year Hong Kong, will likely see at least 10, 000 participants. 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.