FGG at 13th World Sport for All Congress, post 5

Here's a final report from Darl Schaaff, who is representing the FGG at the 13th World Sport for All Congress (more info on the congress HERE.):Today was final day of the congress, and I have become very visible. Some participants are curious and want to talk about LGBT issues in sport, while others are clearly not as comfortable with the thought.

The day began for me with a presentation from ENGSO (European Non-Governmental Sports Organizations, basically national Olympic/sport federations) that included a manifesto to the European Parliament that included sexual orientation in the protected classes.

During the Q&A after the presentation, the representative of ENGSO agreed that they felt that LGBT inclusion was an extremely important issue and wanted it to be part of their work.

The final presentation [read the abstract HERE] on the final day was from Håvard B. Øvregård on the efforts of the Norwegian Olympic Committee to combat homophobia in sport. He had only 10 minutes to present a three-year program. My impression was that the moderator of the session was not too comfortable with the topic, and people I spoke with afterwards agreed with me. Havard spoke of the principle of non-discrimination in the Olympic Charter, and of the fear and discomfort created by homophobia, for both coaches and athletes. He spoke in terms of ending homophobia with a zero-tolerance policy for any language, innuendo or jokes in the locker room or on the field.

For some reason, while all other presentations had a fairly lengthy Q&A at the end, the moderator limited this session to a single question. I made sure I was the questioner…

I said:
“My name is Darl Schaaff, on behalf of the international Federation of Gay Games and I am here today to represent the thousands of athletes around the world who have been disenfranchised by homophobia. On behalf of those gay and lesbian athletes I thank the Norwegian Olympic Committee for its brave stand on fighting homophobia, and the concrete steps it has taken to create and implement an effective policy.

“My question is twofold: first, do other National Olympic Committees have this same language? If not what can they do to add it to their charters?”

Havard answered that Norway was the only NOC that has included sexual orientation and a zero-tolerance policy, but that others had expressed interest, and he and his team were available to support them.

I was happy that the FGG chose to be present at this congress. There are thousands and tens of thousands of LGBT athletes, and the Olympic movement and the worldwide sports community needs to know this. Some people welcome our presence, and we need to work with them to advance the cause of inclusion. And some people dislike or are uncomfortable with our presence… which is further proof of why we need to show up, be visible, and speak out.

I want to thank the organizers for welcoming us, and thank the FGG Board and External Affairs Committee for sending me on this assignment, which has been a bit taxing, but also enriching and enlightening.