FGG at the "Agora du Sport"

The Federation of Gay Games, represented by co-president Emy Ritt and Sports Committee co-chair Marc Naimark, was invited to take part in a round table held on 22 January on the theme of "Racism and discrimination in sport" as part of the third annual Agora du Sport.

The session, held at the University of Paris X Nanterre campus, was chaired by football champion Lilian Thuram. Thuram, who holds the record for selections to the French national team, including the team that won the 1998 World Cup, is a member of the national council for integration, and has founded the Lilian Thuram Foundation for Education against Racism.

The session included university professors and administrators, representatives of the Council of Europe, legal organizations, journalists, human rights groups, and others. The starting point for discussions was a surprising (or alas, not so surprising) survey about the attitude of French people toward racism in sport. Among the results, a disturbing 55% of the population who state that there are "too many blacks" on French national sports teams, and 69% who believe there are "too many foreigners" on these teams... which are in fact reserved for French citizens.

Among the outcomes of this session were proposals to go beyond sanctioning racism in sport, to develop a positive message about the values of fair play and good sportsmanship, in particular by the organization of sports events that promote these values. In such a context, the FGG, via the Gay Games and the events organized by our member organizations, play an important role.

The Agora du Sport, which is supported by the French Ministry for Sport and organizations such as Sport and Citizenship, plans to include the problem of homophobia in sport and the place of women in sport in future editions, and has expressed interest in working with the FGG to implement these plans.

(Thanks to Christian Alard of Legisport for the photo.)