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, June 13, 2012

Gender testing and the Olympics: a look back at Play the Game conference with leaders on the issue

Find the Play the Game 2011 website with more information, photos, video, program, etc. HERE.

With the Olympics fast approaching, the issue of gender in sport is again in the news. A great article in the Toronto Star looks at the current situation in an article entitled "Policing feminity", which gives a good idea of the tenor of the issue, developed in a follow-up in Jezebel.



A highly contested discussion at last year's Play the Game conference in Cologne was about intersex athletes and gender verification in sport. A leading voice in the Olympic Movement, Arne Ljungqvist, presented the evolution of testing, an evolution disputed by Georg M. Facius and Bruce Kidd.

At the one hour mark, FGG delegate Marc Naimark asks why the policy developed by Dr Ljungqvist excludes the notion of male hyperandrogenism: why is excessive natural levels of testosterone an unfair advantage for women, but not for men? Are there no limits to male testosterone? The more the better, as long as it's "natural"? Ljungqvist replied: "Androgens are not a problem with males. We have two categories: male and female." Meaning, I suppose, that testosterone = male, although men and women each need and naturally produce "male" and "female" hormones.

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