From Gay Games III to 2nd North American Outgames, the power to change communities

We found this section of an article in the Vancouver Courier about the start of the 2nd North American Outgames in Vancouver an interesting look at the power of the Gay Games to change a community. Vancouver in 2011 is not Vancouver in 1990, and the Gay Games were a big part of that change for the better.

While the event is expected to draw athletes and tourists from around the world, the fact the North America Outgames is considered almost mainstream in Vancouver speaks volumes about the state of politics and society in our city today.

Vancouver in 2011 is a much different city than the one that hosted the Gay Games in 1990, an event that saw protesters from a conservative church in the Fraser Valley take out full-page ads in the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers warning of the impending sodomite invasion and asking people to gather at Empire Stadium to pray the games be stopped. And while the Social Credit provincial government under then-premier Bill Vander Zalm refused to help fund the event, the current B.C. Liberal government contributed $75,000 towards the sports events and $81,000 for the human rights conference for the Vancouver Outgames 2011. The rest of the $1.25 million budget was paid for by a combination of athletic registration, corporate sponsorship, donations and ticket sales.

Ron Dutton, who houses the B.C. Gay and Lesbian Archives in his West End home, says while the Outgames will likely be a success as a celebration of sport, he believes it won’t have the same political and social implications as the 1990 Gay Games. “It’s 20 years later and time has moved on and the community has matured,” says Dutton. “The impact the Gay Games had socially and politically was astounding, but now things are a little more mainstream so I don’t see that happening, but who knows. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Read in full: HERE.