FAQ / Sport has nothing to do with your sexual orientation, so why have Gay Games?

From our series of answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

Sport has nothing to do with your sexual orientation, so why have Gay Games?

As stated in the Olympic Charter, The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

In locker rooms and playing fields everywhere in the world athletes talk about their private lives. They celebrate victories with those they love, they travel with their partners, they share their sporting life with their families, and they never imagine that they are supposed to somehow keep sports untainted by any contact with their personal life.

Sport is part of people’s identity and social life, not a job where we go for a certain number of hours each day. No one should have to hide important parts of their identity such as the person they love or the composition of their family just to practice sport.