Gareth Johnson interviews new president of IGLA

Gareth Johnson has a great interview in Gay Star News with David Hermann, the newly elected president of FGG member organization International Lesbian and Gay Aquatics:

Why does IGLA exist?

The purpose of our organization is to create a venue for gay, lesbian and transgender athletes to compete in swimming, diving, water polo and synchro. We compete using the rules and standard established by the international maters swimming organization FINA [Fédération Internationale de Natation]. This means that all of the results of our meets, and the records that are set, are recognized internationally.

Why is it necessary to have dedicated sporting events for gay and lesbian sportspeople?

IGLA remains relevant in the 21st century, as do other gay and lesbian sports organizations because the purpose of our organizations goes beyond executing highly competitive masters sporting events.

Unlike United States Masters, British Swimming or even FINA itself, IGLA provides gay and lesbian athletes with the opportunity to socialize and interact with each other in an environment that turns our minority into the majority. This is a powerful experience for many gay athletes, especially swimmers, who feel pressure to keep their sexuality under wraps at traditional masters swim meets.

To me, IGLA is a beacon, a social outreach phenomenon that brings LGBT athletes together from around the world.

What does IGLA mean to you?

Today I swim in West Hollywood California, a jewel of gay communities, with rainbow flags flying next to the American Flag along Santa Monica Boulevard. However I spent my teens and young adult years in Kansas. In 2000, under the emotional pressure of coming to terms with my sexuality, with my fear and loathing, I considered suicide. I wake up every morning thankful that in that dark place I chose to persevere.

When I first heard of this thing called a 'gay swim team' I didn’t believe it was true. I remember my first practice in Kansas City with The Wave. It was like joining a family around the dinner table, a family I never knew I had. It has been one of the most transformative experiences of my life, and I wish I had known in 2000 that it would be this wonderful.

It is easy in West Hollywood, New York, London or Paris to forget that there are so many in our community that don’t dare to dream that there could be something amazing like a gay swim team. IGLA has the voice to reach out to those gay, lesbian and transgender men and women. To let them know that not only are they not alone, but that we’re all over the world!

Read in full HERE.

30 May 2012 / IGLA 2012 will be the largest international LGBT in Iceland, ever

IGLA Championships
Iceland’s largest gathering of international LGBT, ever.

The first weekend in June sees the biggest international LGBT event ever organized in Iceland! The IGLA Championship is hosted by queer sports club Styrmir in co-operation with the Icelandic Swimming Association, the City of Reykjavík, the Icelandic Ministry of Culture and Sports, and queer travel experts Pink Iceland.

The 2012 championships of FGG member organization International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics will be held from 30 May 30 to 2 June. Up to 800 participants are scheduled to arrive from all over the world to compete in swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming and diving. Organizers expect the event to be the largest international aquatics competition ever held in the country.

Host club Stymir at Gay Games VIII in Cologne

The Championship is sponsored by both the City of Reykjavík and the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The mayor of Reykjavík is scheduled to make an appearance, and if his past behaviour is anything to go by it is likely he’ll show up in drag to show his support.

Business Traveller Magazine voted Reykjavik on of its top five ‘Cities To Swim In’ in 2009 due to the unique culture and attitude to the sport. Iceland is a volcanic island and geothermal water is both plentiful and cheap. Pretty much every town in the country has its own geothermally heated outdoor pool open to the public all year round.

Swimming in Iceland is more than a sport, its a way of life.

For further information on the activities, lodging, flights and registration visit www.igla2012.org.

20 April 2012 / DC Aquatics Club bachelor auction

DC Aquatics Club Bachelor Auction
Friday, April 20, 2012
8:00pm in EDT

DCAC is putting some of its bachelor's up on the auctioning block to raise money to send swimmers to the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Please come out with your friends for some fun with men in speedos!

Jr's Bar Grill
1519 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036

En català / Els nedadors de les Panteres Grogues es despullen per un calendari

Amb l'arribada del 2012 són molts els calendaris que proliferen per il·lustrar els mesos que venen. Enguany, per primer cop, la secció de natació del Club Esportiu LGTB Panteres Grogues ha elaborat el seu propi calendari.

Hi trobareu 24 nedadors amb poca roba disposats a animar-vos des de gener a desembre. No és el primer equip esportiu que ho fa, però segurament serà un dels que més us alegrarà la vista.

Les fotos, elaborades per l’estudi fotogràfic Shoot 115 (www.shoot115.com), es van fer durant el mes d’octubre a la piscina on entrenen habitualment, les platges de Barcelona, Sant Feliu de Guíxols i Cabrils.

El calendari està a la venda al preu de 10 € i es pot adquirir a les llibreries:

• Cómplices, C/ Cervantes 4, Barcelona
• Antinous, C/Josep Anselm Clavé 6, Barcelona.

També es pot demanar per correu electrònic a natacio@panteresgrogues.cat. S’enviarà a domicilis particulars previ pagament per transferència.

19 November 2011 / Sydney Wett Ones celebrate their 20th anniversary

From the Gay News Network:

This Saturday night, members of Sydney’s LGBT Masters swim squad, Wett Ones Swimming Club, a member of FGG member organization Team Sydney, will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their club in style with a grand function at Surry Hill’s White Horse Hotel.

From humble beginnings, the Wett Ones have grown into one of the largest GLBT sporting clubs in Sydney and one of the largest Masters swimming squads in NSW.

In recent years, the club has averaged about 85 members ranging from people in their 20s to people in their 60s, while members of Wett Ones were competed at the Asia Pacific Outgames in Wellington earlier this year.

Wett Ones President, Ryan Bennett, told SX that the diversity of its members was a key factor to the long-running success of the club.

“Our members have various reasons for being part of the Wett Ones, including fun, fitness, as a challenge to themselves to become better swimmers and to compete in local Masters competitions and/or regional and international GLBT swim competitions such as the Outgames and Gay Games,” Bennett said.

“A special aspect of our club is that we manage to offer something to such a diversity of swimmers.”

The club regularly train at Sydney University Sports & Aquatic Centre on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for an hour from 6.30pm and on Sundays from 3.30pm-5pm.

Over the warmer months, from October to April, the club also trains on Saturday mornings at the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool in the Domain from 10am.

Saturday night’s 20th anniversary function will see guests treated to some fine drinks and canapés as well as some special entertainment, including DJ Annabelle Gaspar, who will be behind the decks for an evening that is expected to be swimming.

Tribute to Gay Games legend Richard Hunter

Shamey Cramer gave the following moving tribute to Gay Games legend and founder of West Hollywood Aquatics Richard Hunter at the 2011 Memorial Moment during the Federation of Gay Games Annual General Assembly in Toronto:

I will always remember the first time I met Richard Hunter. But then again, everyone remembers the first time they met Richard Hunter - he was just one of those guys. He, more than any other individual, was the nucleus that led to the founding of West Hollywood Aquatics (WH20), the first team within United States Masters Swimming whose mission focused on the inclusion of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender athletes. But that was still a few months down the road.

In May 1982, I saw a poster announcing a Gay Olympic Games to be held in San Francisco over Labour Day weekend. I called the number, and was put through to Dr. Thomas F. Waddell, a former US Olympian whose idea it was to create such a brash, in-your-face challenge to the sports world at large. He put me in touch with Susan McGrievey, the renowned ACLU attorney he had chosen to organize the Los Angeles team. We met for dinner at the Melting Pot, and before the night was through, she handed full control of Team Los Angeles over to me.

I quickly organized those from her list, and we called the first meeting of all athletes on Sunday, 13 June in the Poinsettia Park gymnasium, where a newly-formed men's basketball team was scrimmaging. The meeting started at 6pm, with swimmers, volleyball players, runners, wrestlers and others, all meeting for the first time. You could feel the electricity. The meeting was barely underway when it came to a complete standstill: through the north doors came two bronzed, bare-chested Adonis' in cutoffs and sandals. The one carrying a piece of corrugated cardboard had a personality the size of Texas, and this brilliant, mega-watt smile that just wouldn't quit. He was one of those people who just couldn't help himself from making an entrance - it was just part of what made Richard Hunter who he was. The sleepy-eyed beauty at his side was Ric Boner, a swimmer-diver who would also become one of the original founders of WH2O.

Richard Hunter and Ric Boner at Gay Games I

They had just returned from Venice Beach (the gay beach at that time) where they were recruiting new team-mates. Richard showed us the cardboard sign, which read something to the effect: "Los Angeles Swim Team forming for Gay Olympics in San Francisco - Swimmers Needed." As if men in Speedos needed a reason to talk to either one of them! But it worked. They actually recruited some of our best swimmers with that hand-made sign.

In mid-August, the same week we had our Team Los Angeles send-off party at Studio One, we received the shocking news: the United States Olympic Committee had won the right in court to prevent us from using the word "Olympic." Every item printed, etched or embedded with the word Olympic either had to be destroyed, or the word removed. They also won the right to hold Tom Waddell financially responsible, a lawsuit that wasn't settled amicably until October 2000 - fourteen years after he had died from complications due to AIDS.

Iconic Hunter photo / Hunter with WH20 teammate Steve Smetzer

The moment that epitomized what those first Gay Games were all about belonged to Richard. There is an iconic shot of Richard Hunter leaping out of the pool, both fists pumped in the air, that killer smile of his opened as wide as can be, the look of pure joy and happiness spread across his ebullient face. That photo became the cover of the brochure for Gay Games II. It, more than any other photo, captured the essence of what each and every Gay Games pioneer felt being part of that revolutionary event: we were free, we were strong and no one was going to rain on our parade, not the USOC nor those pesky doctors who had just named a strange new virus Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID, as it was first known) because it seemed to affect only gay men.

Besides being the poster boy for Gay Games II, he was featured in many magazines and caused a stir with Dr. Waddell and others when he appeared in an ad for HIM Vitamins, sporting his gold medals, without their permission.

Shamey Cramer, Errol Graham, Richard Hunter at Gay Games VI

Richard and I didn't reconnect until Gay Games VI: Sydney 2002. Through the week, he struggled with too many demons, and his Gay Games career ended much differently than how it began.

He did his best to remain in positive spirits, but his body was giving out. Despite the advancements in HIV medicines, the high levels of toxicity, among other things, had caught up to Richard. Thus, it came as no surprise when Errol informed us he had a heart attack and died this past August. The moth had flown too close to the flame for too long.

His commitment to his sport and the Gay Games movement in its infancy was the initial glue that bound our swimmers together for that first Gay Games. Athletes from West Hollywood Aquatics were instrumental in establishing International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics. Many of those same athletes were responsible for establishing the Federation of Gay Games, which has fostered the Gay Games movement since 1990.

Although Richard was not involved in those organizations, he was a mighty pebble that started many of the first ripples that created the sea of change.

Richard Hunter was a giant, of that there is no doubt. His passion was contagious. His enthusiasm and energy were boundless. Despite being so flawlessly beautiful, he was one of the most approachable individuals. He was one of only two individuals left with whom I worked locally prior to the initial Gay Games, so his loss affects me deeply. But his spirit joins with others who guide me in my work with IGLA, the FGG, and beyond.

As they say in Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand to modernists): Hei maumaharatanga - In loving memory to Richard Hunter. May you find the peace in rest that so eluded you in life.

San Francisco Tsunami celebrates 25th anniversary

Reprinted with permission from the Bay Area Reporter
10 November 2011

By Roger Brigham

It was 1986, four years after the first Gay Games in San Francisco, when Neil Hart answered an ad in the Bay Area Reporter to join a swim team that was being formed to compete in Gay Games II that year.

"I had never been successful at team sports as a kid – your typical marginalized story," Hart recalled. "I had never swum on a team or competitively before. I was swimming on my own at a North Beach pool for physical therapy. I realized I had stamina and could swim a mile, so I thought it was something I might like to try."

Despite some nervous trepidation, Hart was dropped off at the pool at Carroll and Third streets with a promise to be picked up 90 minutes later.

He's never really left.

"I met a wonderful man walking into practice, Tim Elliott," Hart said. "We both had served in the Peace Corps in different parts of the world and had never swum on a team before. We hit it off and became great friends. After the Gay Games ended Tim wanted the energy of the games to continue and pushed for the formation of a permanent swim team."

In the photo above, Neil Hart (far left) joined his fellow SF Tsunami members in front of the Walgreen window display on Castro Street. Photo: Courtesy SF Tsunami.

And thus, San Francisco Tsunami was born. The club celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, with festivities in Burlingame in September and having a team window display at the Walgreens on Castro Street in October.

The club has grown to more than 140 members, about one-sixth of them women.

"To accommodate the desire for more practices, our schedule has expanded into evening and morning swims at two public pools: Hamilton and King pools," Hart said. "We have a head coach [Matt Sorlien] and a coaching staff of nine. We also have a synchronized swim team, and Tsunami Water Polo spun off years ago and has its own board of directors."

As is the case with many LGBT sports organizations, the true legacy of Tsunami is the sports opportunity it has provided for those who otherwise would likely never have taken up sports at all.

"I really had no sports background before Tsunami," said Hart, who declined to give his age. "I learned to ski and that was a major individual achievement. Learning to swim was another major individual achievement. I was always marginalized growing up with respect to team sports – softball, touch football, stick ball were traumatic as a child. It was therefore exhilarating and life changing in 1986 to be receiving from SF Arts and Athletics letters addressed to, 'Dear Athlete' in response to my swimming in Gay Games II. I kept wondering, 'Who me, an athlete?'

"Tsunami is LGBT- and straight-friendly. I know for me I would not be swimming on a team if Tsunami did not exist, nor would I be participating in swim meets."

Some individuals come and go, but the poolside community remains the same.

"Sometimes the lane I swim in feels like Grand Hotel," Hart said. "I have watched the swimmers come and go over the years. Nevertheless, I believe the camaraderie of the team has had a lasting impact on everyone who has swum with us."

Like many of the Tsunami members, Hart plans to compete in Gay Games IX in Cleveland in 2014.

"I have swum in every Gay Games since 1986," he said. "After Tim died in 1990, I went to Vancouver with his memory. And after Vancouver when another close friend died, I kept on returning to the Gay Games every four years."

More immediately on the horizon is the next International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics championship. This year's was in Hawaii; the next championship is May 29-June 2 in Iceland.

For more information about SF Tsunami, visit http://www.sftsunami.org.

Upcoming IGLA aquatics meets for the end of 2012

Here are some upcoming meets from the calendar of FGG member IGLA:

11/26/2011	18th Coupe de Montréal 2011 – Montreal, QC, Canada
12/02/2011	SPMA SCM Championship – Long Beach, CA, USA
01/14/2012	Hammerhead Winter Swim Fest 2012 –Fort Lauderdale,FL,USA

Charlie Carson's top-ten moments in LGBT aquatics history

photo glanzbilder.org

In response to Outsports top-100 moments in LGBT sports history, Charlie Carson proposes his list of top-ten moments in IGLA history.

You can read the detailed explanations in Charlie's well-written and enlightening piece on Outsports HERE, but here's the bare-bones list:

1. Gay Games I, 1982.
2. Beginning of IGLA, Gay Games II, 1986.
3. First world records, Gay Games III, 1990.
4. Bruce Hayes, first Olympic medalist, Gay Games III, 1990.
5. Pink Flamingo relay/skits, Gay Games III, 1990.
6. EuroGames II in The Hague, 1993.
7. Greg Louganis, Gay Games IV, 1994.
8. Synchronized swimming added to IGLA competitions, 1995.
9. First inclusion of sexual orientation in nondiscrimination language of a national aquatics organization’s bylaws,
10. FINA decision to deny world records at Gay Games 2010 and Asia-Pacific Outgames 2011.

Memorable IGLA moments

FGG member organization International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) is asking an interesting question on its Facebook discussion page HERE:

What was your most memorable IGLA moment? Was it enjoying the famous and now infamous Canadian hospitality in Toronto in 2001? Was it New York's Pink Flamingo at the 1994 Gay Games when Team New York Aquatics teammates circled the pool in angel wings before TNYA president Rick Reynolds read the names of all IGLA members lost to AIDS since the Gay Games began? How have you been changed by IGLA?

Head to Facebook to contribute your IGLA memory!

Founding of IGLA a top moment in LGBT sports history

Federation of Gay Games Honorary Life Member Charlie Carson made the following contribution to the Outsports call for the top moments in LGBT sports history, and we think it's well worth sharing:

Coming late to this, but will add a couple of things specific to aquatics after a quick mention that I hope the founding of Cologne’s gay volleyball team — first organized gay team in Europe — should make the overall list.

First, what I consider “the moment” in aquatics. Gay Games I in 1982 spurred the formation of swim teams on the North American west coast, but the next time swimmers gathered for an open gay competition wasn’t until Gay Games II. We had already formed a contact network among swimmers that had come to the Games from around the world but 1986 was the first time most of us from Gay Games I had seen each other again.

At a meeting of team reps and other individuals in the stands at the Laney College pool in Oakland during Gay Games II we decided we enjoyed being back in the water and were having too much fun to wait four years to be together again. We planned the first of annual competitions at that meeting, looking forward to a day when those competitions would be held around the world. The San Diego group volunteered to host the first annual competition in March 1987.

That meet in 1987 was the first of the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) championships that take place each year between the Gay Games. By the third IGLA championship in 1989 teams had formed in New York and Washington, D.C., and during the next decade dozens more swimming and water polo teams started in North America, Australia and Europe.

IGLA’s existence and its leaders have directly influenced the passage of nondiscrimination clauses in aquatics organization bylaws. This is not something the Federation of Gay Games or Gay Games host committees could dedicate themselves to — it takes an organization specific to aquatics to network with the national governing bodies in a regular ongoing basis to achieve such goals.

IGLA team membership is now in the thousands, ranging from beginners to gold medal Olympians, with championships held in four sports at numerous world class aquatic centers, including Olympic facilities. And it bears mention that the many swimming records set and silliness of the Pink Flamingo event have been positive eye-openers among local mainstream aquatics officials wherever the IGLA championships have been held.

As I write, IGLA XIX is taking place in Honolulu with 2012′s IGLA XX set for Reykjavik. Gay aquatics now happens every day all the time around the world, and that can be directly traced back to the 1986 meeting when we decided to take our sports beyond the Gay Games.

Second, I hope it’s being acknowledged that Bruce Hayes was the first Olympic gold medal participant at the Gay Games, at Vancouver in 1990. Numerous Olympians have come out and joined us since, but Bruce was the first. Bruce received much national U.S. television and press attention when he promoted Gay Games IV in New York, but what I particularly like about his story is Bruce’s regular participation ever since at the Gay Games, IGLA championships and regional gay swimming meets. It’s not been a one-time thing, nor tied into personal publicity efforts — he enjoys the camaraderie and exercise on the gay teams, all the better to admire him for his place as a trailblazer in LGBT sport history.

And while I’m at it, Michael Mealiffe’s two masters world records in the 50 and 100 m. butterfly at 1990′s Gay Games III in Vancouver showed we weren’t just kidding around.

25 June 2011 / District of Columbia Aquatics Club hosts the 20th Maryland Swim for Life

A message from DCAC, a member of FGG member organizations Team DC and IGLA about a great event:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The District of Columbia Aquatics Club (DCAC) will host the 20th annual Maryland Swim for Life on June 25th in Chestertown, Maryland. Swim for Life is an open water swim competition and fundraising event to benefit Washington, DC-area HIV/AIDS non-profit organizations, as well as local watershed organizations that advocate for clean, local waters.

The Maryland Swim for Life held its first competition in 1991 and was organized by Joe Stewart, a longtime advocate for HIV/AIDs organizations who was inspired to start the swim competition after participating in Provincetown, Massachusetts’s Swim for Life. Stewart said, “It was not a swim defined by competitive or macho values. It was a celebration of diversity and community. It was space where gay people could be open, free and not feel like they had to hide their identity. Drag queens were cheerleading and townsfolk turned out to wish all the swimmers well.”

For the last 12 years, Dawson Nash has been involved with the Swim for Life competition, first as a competitor and then serving as race director for 5 years, said, “the District of Columbia Aquatics Club has hosted the event for 10 years and has helped raise over 200,000 dollars since becoming the host organization. Not only has DCAC raised the amount of donations to local organizations, recent coordinators from the club have also increased the number of competitors of the event through online registration, encouraging swimmers from across the East Coast to participate.”

This year, “DCAC plans to welcome over a 150 competitors from across the Mid-Atlantic region in hopes of raising at least $20,000 for local charities,” said WonKee Moon, 2011 Maryland Swim for Life Co-Race Director. “With HIV/AIDS being an ever-present issue for the Washington region, Swim for Life is a reminder that those individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS are not alone.”

Swim for Life, sanctioned by the United States Masters Swimming, begins and ends at Rolph's Wharf on the Chester River, which is one of the Chesapeake Bay's most beautiful tributaries. Athletes have the choice of swimming 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 miles and must raise a minimum of $100 to participate. Proceeds from the event benefit various small organizations that assist individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS in the DC metropolitan area, along with the Chester River Association which advocates for clean waters in the Chester River and Chesapeake Bay.

Register HERE.

2011 Beneficiaries: Heart to Hand, Pediatric Care, Quality of Life Retreats, the Chester River Association, and the Chester River Valley Ministers Association.

Learn more HERE.

About DCAC: The District of Columbia Aquatics Club (DCAC) is an entirely volunteer-run swim team and 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to promote competitive and fitness swimming for LGBT swimmers and their friends in a team-oriented, professionally coached setting. DCAC, established in 1988, is dedicated to promoting the sport of swimming. With over 150 swimmers, DCAC ranks as one of the largest USMS teams in the Potomac Valley region, is one of the largest 50 teams in the U.S., and is one of the largest (primarily, but not exclusively) gay and lesbian teams in the world. DCAC’s membership includes first time swimmers, as well as experienced competitive swimmers, including FINA Masters World Record holders, and individual & relay USMS Top Ten and All-Americans swimmers. DCAC is a member of both United States Masters Swimming (USMS) and the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA). For additional information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

IGLA 2011 early-bird registration extended to 18 May!

Register now for International Lesbian and Gay Aquatics 2011 championship in Hawaii!

We've extended the regular registration prices through May 18, and final registration ends June 6. More info and registration HERE.

Video: What's IGLA all about?

A refreshing short film from FGG-member International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics, about LGBT sport, and about the IGLA Championships, and featuring our regretted friend Ivan Bussens, Honorary Life Member of the Federation of Gay Games.

3 September 2011 / Upcoming IGLA aquatics events: Gold Rush swim meet, Denver

3rd Annual Gold Rush Swim Meet – Denver, Colorado, USA
September 3-5th 2011 (Labor Day weekend)
SQUID, member of FGG members IGLA and Team Colorado, will host three days of fun activities! We know its a ways away, but you can never start planning too early. Official announcement and details coming soon!

25 June 2011 / Upcoming IGLA aquatics events: Maryland Swim for Life

Maryland Swim for Life
Saturday June 25, 2011
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Mile Swims
Rolph’s Wharf on the Chester River
Sponsored by District of Columbia Aquatics Club, member of FGG members IGLA and Team DC
Sanctioned by Maryland LMSC for USMS, Inc.
www.swimdcac.org


Funds raised through swim for life will benefit:
Chester Valley Ministers Association, Chestertown MD / Chester River Association, Chestertown, MD / Heart to Hand, Inc., Seat Pleasant, MD / Pediatric AIDS/HIV Care, Washington, DC / Quality of Life Retreats, Washington, DC

IGLA seeks host for 2013 championships

The annual championships for International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics will take place this summer in Hawaii, and next year in Iceland. The choice of the host for 2013 will be made at the Hawaii AGA. For more info on bidding for the event, visit the IGLA website HERE.

Registration for IGLA 2011 Hawaii now open

The 2011 championships of FGG member organization International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) will take place from July 6-10 in an amazing place, this year: Honolulu, Hawaii!

More info and online registration are available HERE.