Follow-up to Copenhagen Conference "The Future of LGBT Sport & Culture"

Following the Copenhagen Conference on "The Future of LGBT Sport and Culture" held on Monday, 27 July, we wanted to update you on the follow-up and actions that have been on-going since.

1. A preliminary summary of the conference appears at the end of this message.

2. FGG and GLISA are currently engaged in dialogue to determine how best to respond to the community's request for one quadrennial international sport and culture event, with a human rights component.

3. On Thursday, 27 August, the Co-Presidents of FGG (Emy Ritt & Kurt Dahl) and GLISA (Julia Applegate & Wessel van Kampen) met via teleconference.

4. On Saturday, 29 August, Emy Ritt and Wessel van Kampen met in Brussels to continue the discussions. The results of these discussions will be communicated and the community will be asked for its feedback, comments, and suggestions.

5. Community members, sport and culture organisations, and any interested parties are invited to meet in Cologne on Friday, 2 October, 9:30 - 12:30. For those not able to be in Cologne, the dialogue will be frequent and welcome. All interested parties will have an opportunity to express their views.

6. We need to hear from you ! All members of the community are invited to post or send their comments, suggestions, scenarios and questions to the emails below:
- Email: eritt@gaygames.org , kdahl@gaygames.org,

Thanks to all for your continued support. We will keep you informed and look forward to your feedback.

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COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE - preliminary Summary: "The Future of LGBT Sport & Culture", Monday, 27 July 2009

1. Following a very gracious invitation from Outgames 2009, on Monday, 27 July, 30 participants attended the FGG Session on "The Future of LGBT Sport and Culture" from Berlin and Frankfort, Paris, Amsterdam, Australia, Philippines, Jamaica, and Brazil, as well as Houston, Ohio, North America. Representatives from GLISA also attended, including Julia Applegate, Co-President.

2. Team Berlin presented a written statement and a petition 15 meters long (50 feet) signed by those who would like to see one quadrennial event in the future.

3. A T-Shirt from a Netherlands swimming club was displayed to demonstrate their perspective: on front of tshirt - Copenhagen / Cologne 2009-2010.

On the back: Spirit 1 Games

4. The OFFICIAL proceedings of the conference will be made available as soon as possible.

5. There seemed to be general consensus on having one international sport and culture event every 4 years, with a human rights conference component, and with regional events in the intervening years.

6. There were no concrete suggestions as to exact structure or organisation.

7. There is strong interest in seeing a continued and frequent dialogue with the community and between FGG and GLISA. Without a frequent dialogue, the momentum will be lost. There is very strong interest and recommendations to keep the dialogue going and produce some tangible results, with FGG and GLISA in dialogue. The participants feel that they have done all that they can by delivering their messages and attending the meetings - they feel that it is now up to FGG and GLISA to engage in dialogue.

8. The participants requested a schedule of discussions. EGLSF proposed that a potential date on the "schedule" could be in March 2010 in Manchester , UK , at their 2010 AGA. We also mentioned that there will be opportunities for dialogue between meetings and leading up to GGVIII Gay Games. FGG and GLISA are in contact to continue the dialogue.

9. Participants also requested that they be informed and updated in a transparent fashion about any discussions and issues, including any issues that may block progress.