Featured events


7-9 September 2012
Brussels Games
Brussels

Brussels Gay Sports will offer a weekend of fun and fairplay in the capital of Europe, with volleyball, swimming, badminton, and tennis, as well as fitness and hiking.

Learn more HERE.
26-28 October 2012
QueergamesBern
Bern, Switzerland

The success of the first edition of the QueergamesBern proved the need for an LGBT multisport event in Switzerland. This year will be even bigger, with badminton, bowling, running, walking, floorball.

Learn more HERE.
17-20 January 2013
Sin City Shootout
Las Vegas
The 7th Sin City Shootout will feature softball, ice hockey, tennis, wrestling, basketball, dodgeball, bodybuilding and basketball.

Learn more HERE.

13-16 June 2013
IGLFA Euro Cup
Dublin
After this year's edition in Budapest at the EuroGames, the IGLFA Euro Cup heads to Dublin for 2013, hosted by the Dublin Devils and the Dublin Phoenix Tigers.

Learn more HERE.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Gay Games Ambassador Billy Bean talks about coming out in pro sport after launch of Play the Game

From WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio:

Earlier this month, the National Hockey League released a public service announcement in support of LGBT rights. It aired during the equivalent of hockey's prime-time -- a New York Rangers/Boston Bruins game -- and was one of several that will feature over 30 NHL athletes as part of a campaign called "You Can Play." The project was founded by Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, whose late brother Brendan Burke was the manager of a college hockey team, gay and out.

"The messages are very simple, yet meaningful," said Patrick Burke. "It's variations of the idea that all they care about is winning, all they care about is having the best teammates and it doesn't matter if the best teammate happens to be gay or straight."

But many feel the sport -- and sports in general -- have a long way to go in accepting gay athletes. Female athletes have had an easier time dealing with the stigma attached to being gay, says former #1 Grand Slam Tennis Champion Rennae Stubbs (now a commentator for ESPN), who will join us on Eight Forty-Eight today to talk about her experience.

For some, there's also added pressure from the gay community, who want sports stars to come out, but who may not understand the environment thoroughly. That's a sentiment expressed by former major league baseball player Billy Bean, in his book Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball. Bean came out after retiring.

Stubbs and Bean will be joined by Bob Cook, a sports blogger for Forbes magazine, who help shed some light on the subject. To give you a peak at his thoughts: "I won’t spoil the whole segment, but the answer has to do, I think, with what players hear from day one in youth sports."

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