A look back at the first Gay Games conference at Gay Games IV in New York

The idea for an official Federation of Gay Games conference came from Brenda Pitts, a professor specialized in sports marketing at Florida State University (now at Georgia State University). In 1985, Dr Pitts became interested in consulting research on the Gay Games, only to discover that almost none existed.

While attending the official conference of the Commonwealth Games in 1986, she had the idea that the Gay Games ought to offer something similar, and began working with the FGG to promote the first such conference, The timeframe for launching such a project for Gay Games III in 1990 proved too short, and so the first Gay Games conference was instead held in New York in 1994 the day before opening ceremonies for Gay Games IV. Some 23 speakers particpated at this event, which laid the groundwork for the larger conference organized at Gay Games V in Amsterdam.

It should be noted that participants in Gay Games IV could also take advantage of the ILGA world conference held that summer in New York, with both the Gay Games and the ILGA conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.