FAQ / How do the Gay Games differ from other tournaments?

How do the Gay Games differ from other tournaments?

The Gay Games change political culture by challenging sports bodies, media and governments to create more opportunities for athletes regardless of sex, age or physical challenge.

A few historical highlights:

• HIV/AIDS. In 1994 the Games achieved a political milestone, convincing the U.S. Attorney General to allow HIV-infected individuals to enter the U.S. for Gay Games IV without special visas. The Designated Event Status (DES) draws attention to the ramifications of national policies restricting travel by AIDS-affected individuals. The Federation of Gay Games and CGI won that DES designation for the 2006 Chicago Gay Games. In sports that require drug testing, the FGG has worked with LGBT sports leaders to develop anti-doping policies that allow for athletes on banned medications. In 2011 the FGG adopted its first Charter for Sport and HIV.

• Gender. The Gay Games have offered women's wrestling since 1994: 10 years before the Athens Olympic Games. The Games offer 10 weight classes for women; the Olympics offer just four. The Gay Games offer the only international event for men's synchronized swimming, due to FINA's ban on such events. Same-sex pairs in figure skating, bodybuilding and dance sport can be found only in LGBT sports tournaments.

• Homophobia. Olympic champion diver Greg Louganis came out of the closet during the Opening Ceremonies of Gay Games IV, the same year the USOC gave him its highest award. In his acceptance speech, Louganis dedicated his award to Tom Waddell and successfully lobbied to prevent the 1996 Olympic volleyball competition from being held in homophobic Cobb County, Georgia.

• Ageism. Recognizing that seniors over 50 are forecast to be 25 percent of the LGBT community by 2020, the Chicago Gay Games added new age categories in such sports as basketball, softball, volleyball and wrestling. These are in addition to the many Gay Games sports which already have age categories including aquatics, cycling, figure-skating, physique, power lifting, racquetball, road racing, tennis, track and field, and triathlon.

• Gender identiy. Gay Games policies for including transgendered athletes in 2002 set the tone for the Olympics and others to follow, and remain in the forefront of allying fairness and inclusion.