What's this?

It's the new Maison de l'emploi, the jobs center of St Etienne, which hosted today's seminar on LGBT sport organized by Face à Face as part of their film festival. Three original films based on Gay Games VIII were screened, followed by a discussion with sports science students, educators, and journalists, moderated by Christelle Lagattu. In addition to the filmmakers, sociologist Philippe Liotard made a remarkable intervention, including a critique of the complaint of LGBT sport being a ghetto.

Liotard noted that very few people seem concerned by the real ghetto of the privileged who live among themselves in isolation from people with different backgrounds and social status, surely a danger to society as great as France's poverty-stricken suburban housing projects or some gay folks playing sport. He also pointed out that sport if based on rules that do not allow people to play against each other: if you want to race against an Olympic champion runner, you will not be able to. An adult can't compete in the Little League, and a man can't compete in the WNBA. On the contrary, the Gay Games are an event in which anyone from an Olympic champion to a beginner, from a top young athlete to an 80 year old, can play together and compete in the same event.

Also speaking were Maria Salvietti, VP of the FSGL, and Marc Naimark, sports officer of the FGG. A noted presence was that of Bruno Aussenac, who made the trip down to St Etienne for the opening of the festival yesterday and today's seminar before returning early tomorrow for a series of annual general assemblies of FSGL member clubs.