Gay Star News talks to LGBT sports clubs around the world and finds that it’s time to grease up and get involved
27 MARCH 2012 | BY GARETH JOHNSON
Gay Games Ambassador Chris Morgan has recently produced a timeline tracing the history of LGBT sport in the UK. While Morgan’s research has identified a number of individuals who have excelled at their sports throughout the years, it was not until the 1970s that the first LGBT sports clubs began to form, with running, swimming and tennis among the first to establish dedicated gay and lesbian teams.
The first Gay Games, held in San Francisco in 1982, were a further catalyst for communities to come together and form clubs that created safe and supportive environments for gay men and lesbians to pursue their love of sport. For Dr Tom Waddell, the founding father of the Gay Games movement, the Gay Games were designed to: ‘bring a global community together in friendship, to experience participation... [and] to dispel the prevailing attitudes in sport regarding ageism, sexism and racism.'
It’s difficult to get a handle on exactly how many LGBT sports clubs there now are around the world, but Chris Morgan’s research demonstrates that since the 1980s new clubs have continued to be established in every conceivable sport.
Like any community-based activity, establishing an LGBT sports club is hard work, takes an enormous amount of energy and requires a number of passionate people to give the club focus and momentum.
Making a club sustainable beyond that initial core group of people is equally challenging and it’s not uncommon for clubs to have a short lifespan if they have been unable to build a strong membership base or the infrastructure required for future growth.
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