Why sports matter for LGBTs

From a comment piece by Carl Sandler in Huffington Post:

Why Sports Matter
Gay men need other avenues for building friendships that are not based (at least initially) on sexual compatibility and mutual attraction. So many gay men limit ourselves to building friends through online dating websites and apps, or in environments built around sex, dating, and drinking. Gay sports leagues provide the opportunity to meet other gay guys in the real world, and to build friendships and meaningful relationships over time based on shared real-world experiences. And yes, many of the guys are smoking hot.

The most amazing thing I've observed is the way sports leagues can enrich the lives of LGBTQ people. We've been so damaged by the world of sports that we often come to a gay sports league filled with trepidation and self-doubt. Gay sports leagues like Gotham celebrate difference rather than repressing or judging it. In gay leagues you will find not only competitive, professional athletes who look just like athletes in "straight" leagues but also fabulous ladyboys in short skirts who can finish a mean serve with a high kick. "Fierce" is a word often present on the court. Team names usually include some sort of sexual double entendre or campy humor. "I'd Hit That," "When Harry Set Sally," and "Destiny's Hookers" are some recent team names. In other words, gay leagues combine competitive sports and fabulousness in a way that is nothing short of inspiring.

So although out gays and lesbians in the Olympics may be few, gay sports leagues and tournaments are flourishing, giving gay men and women the opportunity to know the joys of team sports on their own terms. There are dating websites like RealJock.com and content sites like Outsports.com dedicated to the thousands of gay men who play sports. And don't forget the Gay Games, which this year celebrates 32 years since its founding. All of these are a wonderful testament to the amazing power of gay athletes everywhere.

Before the 2012 Olympic Games end, I hope a few more athletes will follow the lead of South African archer Karen Hultzer and come out. And maybe when the next Olympic Games roll around, I'll turn on the TV and see a posse of athletes competing to become the next big gay star, hugging their boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, or wives after winning medals. Maybe by then we'll even see some straight athletes wave to knuckle-biting gay parents in the stands. We will make fun of their trashy mix of patriotic fashion and rainbow rings. We will smile and laugh. And we will all be the better for it.

Read the full article 

Huffington Post profile of Greg Louganis

A great profile of Gay Games Ambassador Greg Louganis in the UK version of Huffington Post:

They say you should never meet your hero. He'll always let you down. Well, I have, and he didn't.

The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was memorable for two things - Ben Johnson's red-eyed corruption of the 100-metre sprint, and double Olympic gold medallist diving champion Greg Louganis hitting his head on the board.

"My first feeling was one of embarrassment" - says Greg Louganis of his 1988 encounter with the board

Louganis was the golden boy of the diving pool, with two golds to his name from the previous Games in LA. He was expected to become the first man in history to defend both his springboard and platform titles.

So how did it feel when it all went so wrong during the springboard preliminaries, and he went splat in front of all those people?

"My first feeling was one of intense embarrassment," he remembers, 24 years later. Then that trickled into anxiety. But I have to admit, there was also a feeling of relief, because I was under so much pressure to do well, and suddenly everyone stopped expecting anything. It freed me up."

Keep reading about Greg Louganis

Pride House a necessity for all Olympics, not just Sochi

From Bruce Arthur in the National Post:

LONDON — In 2010, the Vancouver Olympics featured the first Pride House, and a speed skater from New Zealand named Blake Skjellerup dropped by one day. When he publicly came out as a gay man later that year, he cited a couple things in his decision: Seeing how comfortable out Australian diver Matthew Mitcham was in 2008 in Beijing, and that small, welcoming space at the intersection of Davie and Bute.

The Pride House in London is a part-time affair, moving around and hosting various events, and occasionally renting two rooms in a little brick building next to a marina in East London. It is a minnow in the Olympic ocean, but an important one. And in 2014, it will not exist.

“It’s like a flag in the sand,” said Louise Englefield, who is running Pride House here, and who founded the equality-based group Pride Sports. “It’s a visible place that allows LGBT people to have a place in the Olympic movement, that we really have a place in the Games. And since there are only 23 out athletes at these Games …”

There will be no Pride House in 2014 in Sochi, due to a ruling from a Russian judge outlawing the promotion of homosexuality. Pride House here was given support, if not outright approval, by the London organizing committee; the International Olympic Committee, however, has refused to take a stance on the matter. It banned South Africa from the Games from 1964 to 1991 over apartheid, but it won’t weigh in on this.

“We aren’t responsible for the running of or setting up of Houses,” says IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “That is done by the [National Olympic Committees] or other relevant organizations. So in this case it isn’t a decision of either us, or the organizing committee in Sochi. From our side, the IOC is an open organization and athletes of all orientations will be welcome at the Games.”

“That’s a lie,” says ex-NBA player John Amaechi, who is doing commentary for the BBC here, and who is out. “They have no backbone. Look, [South Africa] was perhaps the only notable, noble thing that the IOC has ever done. It’s the only outspoken, outstanding, political move that made them, for just a brief moment, worth their existence. The idea that they have differentiated between race and other things is truly, truly worthy. Because what’s the explanation? Being racist is important. They’re explicitly saying that being racist is important, we won’t allow it, but being homophobic is okay.

“There’s already a lie. I would say implicit, but it’s not, it’s a very explicit lie within sports, and within the Olympics especially. Because most sports have rhetoric about fairness and equality and that type of stuff, but really only the Olympics … have at their core a set of five principles, one of which is that sports is a human right. Which means everybody, and it’s a very eloquent way of saying sports is for everybody.

“And so you’re in this situation — it’s not simply that the Pride House isn’t happening [in Sochi] because there’s no funding, or because there’s no interest. It’s explicitly not allowed. So by doing that you have already said sport is not for everybody. Explicitly, there are people who are not allowed to do sport, and if they are allowed to do sport, they must do it in a way that suits us.”

Outsports.com counts 23 openly gay and lesbian athletes at these Olympics, compared with 10 in Beijing and 11 in Athens, but just three men: two in dressage, including gold medallist Carl Hester, and Mitcham. Among the women, Megan Rapinoe won gold in women’s soccer after coming out just before the Games; German cyclist Judith Arndt won silver in the cycling road race.

But that is 23 publicly LGBT athletes out of nearly 11,000, one of whom, South African archer Karen Kultzer, came out to Outsports during the Games. “I am an archer, middle aged and a lesbian,” she said in a statement. “I am also cranky before my first cup of coffee. None of these aspects define who I am.”

Amaechi says there are seven out male athletes at the Games before being corrected; he demurs, wondering how many are publicly out. But he says, “Oh, there’s a lot more than that.”

“There are plenty of athletes [at basketball], a number of them on the women’s team, and a number on the men’s teams, who have had a word with me privately,” says Amaechi. “There’s not one of the men who would meet me in a public place. Because they know there’s a danger there for them when they come back. What if you play for the Utah Jazz, and have a set of owners who are absurd? What if you play for the Orlando Magic, whose owners donate to [the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage], an organization that shouldn’t exist? What if you play in Russia? What if you play in China? Things aren’t as easy as we think for all these people.

“In most locker rooms in the NBA right now there are guys who are out, who bring their quote-unquote manager to every game. Some of them even have somebody who is their partner and people know about it, and come to the Christmas party. And it’s within the locker-room, and there’s no issue. They don’t talk to the media about it, nobody does, but it’s known within the locker-room, and it’s no big deal. Most of the guys have the Charles Barkley [attitude], which is, can you play?”

But they are not comfortable enough to be themselves in the public sphere. Athletes who have come out have often said they performed better afterwards — Rapinoe told reporters before the gold-medal game, “I’ve been playing a lot better than I’ve ever played before,” and that coming out was “a weight off my shoulders.”

But it’s not just the more gay-friendly countries of the world who could, or would, host this travelling carnival. The IOC wasn’t too worried about human rights in China, either. Englefield says the plan is to ask every national house to stage a Pride House for a day in Sochi, since trying to establish an independent one would invite prosecution. It’s a laudable goal; as Canadian chef de mission Mark Tewksbury says, “the big challenge is Sochi. That’s where it’s really needed.”

“I think the most important thing,” says Englefield, “is what are the IOC going to do now?”

National Post

TIME on Olympic homophobia

A great article from TIME, with interviews with Gay Games Ambassador Blake Skjellerup, Karen Hultzer, and Pride House's Lou Englefield

On Aug. 6, during the most dogged soccer match at the London Olympics, Megan Rapinoe blasted two shots past the Canadian goalie to help Team USA secure a spot in Thursday’s final. Even more impressive, however, may have been Rapinoe’s resolve when she came out as a lesbian just weeks before the Olympics. “I feel like sports in general are still homophobic,” she said in an interview with Out.com on July 5. “People want—they need—to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good ol’ U.S. of A.”

In the high-profile world of Olympic competition, Rapinoe is among a small, but growing number of gay athletes who have publicly acknowledged their sexual orientation. According to Outsports, a media watchdog and sports news site, of the 14,690 athletes participating in the Olympic and Paralympic Games this year, only 23 are openly gay. That’s around 0.16%. Even so, it’s a big improvement from the 2004 Games in Athens, which counted just 11 out athletes. In Beijing in 2008 there were only 10.

Their reasons for keeping a low profile vary, but closeted Olympians share one thing in common: they have trained their entire lives to represent their countries at the Games. Coming out, they fear, could cause sponsors to pull out of deals, and negative stereotypes may leave coaches and teammates questioning their abilities. “The most important thing to every athlete is their position and standing,” says Blake Skjellerup, a gay speed-skater who represented New Zealand at the 2010 Winter Olympics. “They wouldn’t want anything as trivial as their sexuality to jeopardize that.”

The organizers behind Pride House—”a welcoming space for all athletes, staff, spectators and friends”—hope to show that being gay and being competitive aren’t incompatible. To that end they’ve organized informal gatherings, like a recent 5K run, are staging an exhibition on gay athletes, and provide a space for athletes and non-athletes alike to watch the Olympics. “We’re putting a little flag in the sand and saying that within this environment, which isn’t inclusive and welcoming, we are an inclusive and welcoming space,” says Louise Englefield, the founding director of Pride Sports, an LGBT sports development and equality organization. “If that means that people realize there is an alternative then great.”

The inaugural Pride House at the Vancouver Games played a big role in Skjellerup coming out. Although he had told his family ahead of the Olympics, he had not contemplated coming out publicly. He sat at a Starbucks opposite the house before deciding to step inside. After strolling through a photo exhibition of gay athletes—think of Olympic gold medalists like Greg Louganis and Matt Mitcham—he soon found himself telling staff members his secret. “It was quite a big thing coming out to strangers,” he says. “I felt really good with myself after doing that.”

Coming out seems more daunting for male athletes. Of the 23 out Olympians this year, only four are men. “Constructions of masculinity within sport are incredibly rigid,” says Englefield, adding that the “macho environment” entrenches homophobia. It’s a different story for gay women. “Lesbians who maybe don’t conform to heterosexual stereotypes of femininity can just get on with it and be themselves.”

No gay athlete—closeted or not—wants to hear homophobic slurs bandied about in the locker room. And yet fighting against more than just your opponent may partly explain the success of openly gay sportsmen and women at the Olympics. “When you’re closeted, it’s quite hard on you mentally,” says Skjellerup. “But there is a lot of mental toughness that comes with being an athlete. For me homophobic comments actually spear me on and encourage me more.”

He may not be alone. Outsports has identified 104 out athletes who have participated in Summer Games. More than half of them have won Olympic medals. Gay men and lesbians seem poised for similar success in London. Equestrian Carl Hester became the first out athlete to win gold in this Olympics as part of British dressage team. Other notables include German Judith Arndt, who bagged a silver in cycling, and American Lisa Raymond, who walked off the tennis court with a bronze. Other likely medalists include Seimone Augustus, a star of the U.S. women’s basketball team, Rapinoe, of the U.S. soccer squad, and four members of Holland’s field hockey team.

Read more: HERE

IOC and intersex athletes

In this week's column, the Bay Area Reporter's Roger Brigham has a pot pourri of Olympic-related commentary, all of which is worth reading. But we have a particular fondness for his attack on the IOC gender policy:

Question to International Olympic Committee: Did you even bother to read the Women Sports Foundation's position paper on the participation of intersex athletes in women's sports before you adopted your medieval inquisition policy just weeks before the Olympics?

The IOC published its "Regulations on Female Hyperandrogenism" in June to little immediate fanfare. The regulations were generated as a policy response to the emergence in track of 800-meter runner Caster Semenya of South Africa, a world champion woman with an intersex condition. In brief, the policy, which is available at http://tinyurl.com/7l237pt, rules that women whose testosterone levels are at what are considered normal for males may be ruled by a three-member medical panel ineligible for women's competition.

"Nothing in these regulations is intended to make any determination of sex," the document states, and there is a bitter validity to that statement. The IOC is in effect acknowledging such women are women, but do not fit the IOC's image of what a woman should be and therefore not allowed to compete with their peers.

In an article in the American Journal of Bioethics , Hida Viloria, global chair of Organization Intersex International, and former Spanish hurdles champion Maria Jose Mart'nez-Patino wrote, "It is evident that the new policies do not ensure or address fairness for all. Rather, they were devised to ease social discomfort and appease prejudicial complaints against the women they target. The fact that the IAAF and IOC prioritized these complaints over human rights was enabled by the fact that legal experts in Lausanne confirmed that women with hyperandrogenism lack legal protections."

In fitting Olympic conflict, supporters of Semenya celebrated her selection to carry the national flag for the team during the opening ceremonies, while critics of the IOC were launching an online petition to end gender testing. The petition can be found at http://www.allout.org/olympics. The WSF's position paper on intersex inclusion can be found at http://tinyurl.com/cmb33uw. And a wonderful discussion on the lack of scientific basis and gross prejudice behind the policy is available at http://www.med.stanford.edu/121/2012/Karkazis.html.

Semenya's first heat will be on Wednesday, August 8.

Read in full HERE.


See also this post on our blog.

Trans Olympic hopeful Keelin Godsey tells his story

From Our Group:

On July 21, 2012, I competed at the US Track and Field Olympic Trials in the women’s hammer throw. I competed as the first out female-to-male transgender athlete pre-medical transition. However, this was my second time competing at the Olympic Trials. At the 2008 Trials, I was closeted and placed seventh. This year, however, I was out and placed fifth. I only missed the team by a hair.

The major difference between the Beijing and the London trials was that I was fully, publicly out and everyone knew. My competitors knew. Their coaches knew. Everyone in my field knew. Prior to the games I was inundated with emails and messages, from all sorts of different people about my story and what they thought about it. Dealing with the pressure was a new avenue that I learned to navigate. I trained for 10 years to make the US team. I already had enough pressure on myself to make the team. At the same time, I felt additional pressure to succeed on behalf of the transgender community. Even though there was no direct pressure, I did not want to disappoint all the people who said they looked up to me. I wanted to give them something to look up to.


Keep reading HERE.

Pride House in Philadelphia Gay News

A very nice article by Scott Drake on Pride House from Philadelphia Gay News (thanks to Anna Aagenes):


Olympic Pride House welcomes the world

The first Summer Olympics Pride House almost-didn’t happen. When sponsorship funding didn’t meet expectations three months ago, the house was officially scrapped in spite of the enormous success of the first Pride House two years ago at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Olympic speed skater Blake Skjellerup publicly said the support and encouragement he got at the Vancouver Pride House influenced his decision to come out.

More than just a haven for LGBT athletes, the house will have live music from LGBT artists, video presentations from local LGBT organizations and, of course, broadcast competitions live during the games. A banner exhibit of 37 out athletes, groups, discrimination and progress will include Billie Jean King, David Kopay, Greg Louganis, Ian Roberts, Tom Waddell, the Gay Games and OutGames.


Federation of Gay Games vice president for external affairs Marc Naimark recently told PGN via email his hope is to see thousands of Olympic visitors stop by for an exhibit or attend some other Pride House event. Visitors can participate in a bowling night, a youth day, a football tournament during the week and a fun sports day on Aug. 11.

Pride House is only open Aug. 3-12 and, even though there is no scheduled media coverage at this point, Naimark is hopeful that some publicity takes root by the time the house opens. Naimark also said that while it is a haven for LGBT athletes and it would be great if some Gay Games ambassadors such as Greg Louganis came, the primary focus is to engage the general public.

And what about someone coming out during the Olympics? “If an athlete competing in the Olympics were to come out at Pride House, we would be delighted and supportive: But our pleasure would be first and foremost for him or her. Coming out is a liberation, and if we can be part of that, we will have done something good,” Naimark said.

Read more HERE.

No time to cry victory for women in the Olympics

For the first time an Olympics opening ceremony saw women in very delegation. That's progress... unless it becomes an alibi to cover the continuing repression of women in sport. From the National Post:

CAIRO — Across the world, word that Saudi Arabia would send women athletes to the Olympics for the first time immediately rocketed to the top of websites and broadcasts. In Saudi Arabia’s official media: Not even a hint.

The state-sponsored silent treatment was a lesson into the deep intricacies and sensitivities inside the kingdom as it took another measured step away from its ultraconservative traditions.

While Saudi rulers found room to accommodate the demands of the International Olympic Committee to include women athletes, they also clearly acknowledged that — in their view at least — this did not merit billing as a pivotal moment of reform in a nation that still bans women from driving or travelling without the approval of a male guardian.

“It does not change the fact that Saudi women are not free to move and to choose,” said political analyst Mona Abass in neighbouring Bahrain. “The Saudis may use it to boost their image, but it changes little.”

Even the two athletes selected to compete under the Saudi flag — 800-metre runner Sarah Attar from Pepperdine University in California and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in judo — live outside the kingdom and carry almost no influence as sports figures. There is no other choice: Women sports remain nearly an underground activity in Saudi Arabia.

Keep reading HERE.

A better solution for gender in sport

From the New York Times:

The International Olympic Committee’s new policy governing sex verification is expected to ban women with naturally high testosterone levels, a condition known as hyperandrogenism, from women’s competitions, claiming they have an unfair advantage. I.O.C. officials portray this as a reasonable compromise in a difficult situation, arguing that the rules may be imperfect, but that sports are rule-based — and that the rules should be clear.

We agree that sports need clear rules, but we also believe that the rules should be fair and as rational as possible. The new policy, if it is based on testosterone levels, is neither.

So what is a better solution?

First, at the very least, female athletes should be allowed to compete throughout any investigation. Suspending them from competition once questions are raised violates their confidentiality and imposes sanctions before relevant information has been gathered.

Second, when it comes to sex, sports authorities should acknowledge that while science can offer evidence, it cannot dictate what evidence we should use. Scientifically, there is no clear or objective way to draw a bright line between male and female.

Testosterone is one of the most slippery markers that sports authorities have come up with yet. Yes, average testosterone levels are markedly different for men and women. But levels vary widely depending on time of day, time of life, social status and — crucially — one’s history of athletic training. Moreover, cellular responses range so widely that testosterone level alone is meaningless.

Testosterone is not the master molecule of athleticism. One glaring clue is that women whose tissues do not respond to testosterone at all are actually overrepresented among elite athletes.

Keep reading HERE.

Gender equity at the Olympics: FGG projects in the news

The Federation of Gay Games has signed the Atlanta Plus Committee's appeal described below (see our posts on Atlanta Plus HERE) and initiated the letter to the IOC and FINA. We are pleased that these issues are getting some attention, and will keep pushing for gender equity and equality in sport! Here's Reuters' story on these issues (with thanks to writeer Belinda Goldsmith):

LONDON (Reuters) - Women boxers have claimed an early victory at the 2012 Olympics by knocking out the last all-male sport but the battle for sex equality at the Games rages on, and not just among women - male synchronized swimmers are also demanding equal rights.

London marks the first Olympics where women will compete in all 26 sports on offer, a major change from Stockholm 100 years ago when women could only participate in five of 110 events.

Campaigners for gender equality acknowledge there has been progress but stress the battle is far from over and the Games must symbolise, reflect and celebrate the dominant beliefs and values of society.

At the London Olympics, running from July 27 until Aug. 12, women are competing in 30 fewer events than men.

A total of 162 gold medals are up for grabs for male competitors while women can win only 132. At the 2008 Beijing Games there were 165 gold medals for men and 127 for women.

Annie Sugier, spokeswoman for the French coordination for the European Women's Lobby, said several women's groups were planning to hold a demonstration in London on July 25 to put seven demands to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding discrimination and segregation.

"The objective of the Olympics is to build a better world through sport but the reality is that we still have all the stereotypes, discrimination, and prostitution around the Games," Sugier told Reuters.

"The Olympics is the right place to enforce change as there is just one law for all. You have the instruments to enforce equality and equality is justice."

OLYMPIC ROLE MODELS

Tackling sex inequality and other forms of discrimination at the Olympics is viewed as critical by campaigners. The Games are a high-profile global event where the same rules apply to all nations and these values can filter into other areas of life.

It is also unique for a sporting event as the audience is fairly evenly split between men and women and therefore a platform for women's sport to be on a par with men's events, to establish women as role models, and to encourage women to take up sport which can be a way to empower and build confidence.

Sugier, who has been campaigning for equality and neutrality at the Olympics for 20 years, said the IOC needed to act more decisively after stating its support for gender equality at the Olympics but so far failing to meet its targets.

In 1996 the IOC set a target to ensure women held 20 percent of the positions in its ruling bodies by 2005 which included the 205 National Olympic Committees and the 35 Olympic International Olympic Sports Federations.

This has not been met, and Sugier says women on average only hold about 10 percent of these positions. Some of the National Olympic Committees have no women.

The board of the London Organising Committee, LOCOG, has only one woman among its 19 members, former Olympian Princess Anne, while the IOC has 20 women among its 105 members which falls just short of the 20 percent.

"With so few women serving in leadership positions and a lack of commitment among the male-dominated leadership, there has been little progress on supporting women as athletes and leaders," said sports historian Dr Maureen Smith from California State University in a report for the U.S.-based Women's Sports Foundation, founded by Billie Jean King in 1974.

She said this lack of commitment started at grassroots and was typical of developmental levels all the way to the upper echelons of competitive Olympic and Paralympic sport.

The gender gap has narrowed. At Beijing there was 4,746 women competitors which was a record 42 percent of the total.

But this was despite IOC President Jacques Rogge in 2004 stating that: "our ultimate goal must be 50-50 participation." He did not, however, set a clear date for this proportion.

"No time deadline has been set but we would hope that London will see the highest percentage of female participation in history," said IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau.

MEN CALL FOR EQUALITY

Smith said certain sports were getting better when it came to gender balance and for some countries this was not an issue at all.

"Some countries don't care if it is a man or a woman winning. They just care about winning the medal. But there is still some way to go," Smith told Reuters.

At the Beijing Olympics, three countries did not bring women athletes but this has changed for London as the Muslim nations of Qatar and Brunei will include women competitors in their teams for the first time.

The final country to forbid women to compete, Saudi Arabia, last month bowed to pressure from the IOC and said it would allow women who qualify to compete at the London Games.

It has yet to name any female athletes who will represent the Middle Eastern kingdom.
Sports historians said the changes at the Olympics reflected the overall changes in society since the start of the modern Olympics in Athens 1896 when no women were allowed to compete.

Women first appeared at the Olympics in Paris in 1900, competing in golf and tennis, but were excluded from track and field competitions until 1928 when the longest race was the 800 metres.

Several women collapsed in exhaustion during the race and then IOC President, Count Henri Baillet-Latour, even suggested ruling out all women competitors from the Games.

Clearly this did not happen but the women's 800 metres did not reappear until 1960. Women were not allowed to run the marathon until 1984.

Tim Woodhouse, head of policy at the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation, said a number of sports were seen to put women's health and their fertility at risk.

"Amazingly it was not until the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that these myths were debunked," said Woodhouse, whose foundation is a UK charity that aims to make women active and confident.

In the United States, the 1972 legislation Title IX, which prohibited gender discrimination in educational programs, had a massive impact on women participating in sports at colleges and high schools.

As well as the debut of women boxers in London, the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, will see women being allowed for the first time to compete in ski jumping. The Nordic combined events at Sochi, however, will only be contested by men.

"The addition of these sports, including boxing at London, is a really positive step forward but there is still a big disparity in other sports," said Woodhouse.

The IOC should consider including some sports which were more women based, such as netball, if it really wanted to resolve the issue, he added, and there was still major discrepancies in numbers in canoeing, rowing, wrestling, weight lifting and judo.

"These numbers need to be worked on and it takes leadership from the IOC to push that agenda," he said.

But it is not just women who want equality.
Men have called for action after being ruled out from competing at two events at the Summer Olympics, synchronised swimming and rhythmic gymnastics, even though there are growing numbers of men participating in both sports.

A lobby group of male synchronised swimmers wrote to the IOC and swimming's governing body FINA in June to argue that men should no longer be excluded from this event at the Olympics.

The group, which includes the London swimming group Out To Swim, said this was gender discrimination despite the Olympic Charter condemning any discrimination regarding race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise.

"For the most part, this discrimination has affected women athletes, and great progress has been made in this area. But in at least one sport, it is men who are victims of this discrimination, which is no less intolerable than that aimed at women," said the letter.

Stephen Adshead, manager of the Out to Swim Angels synchronised swimming team that was set up three years ago, said this was "blatant inequality and unfair."

"We realise it is too late for men synchronised swimmers at London but we would like to have a serious discussion with the IOC after the Games as there is no reason why there can't be gender equality in all sports," Adshead told Reuters.

What progress for women in the Olympics since 2008?

From a 2008 story on the USOC website a look at the situation for women at the Beijing Olympics:



BEIJING (AP) Women are competing at the 2008 Games in record numbers, yet the Olympic movement remains under fire on the gender front - accused of failing to reduce male dominance in its own ranks and tolerating countries which exclude women from their teams.

Of more than 11,000 athletes assembled in Beijing, 42 percent are women. That's up from less than 26 percent in 1988, and illustrates the success of an aggressive campaign since then by the International Olympic Committee to move toward gender equity.

The IOC itself, and its affiliates, haven't done nearly as well, falling short of their own goals.

Of the IOC's 110 members, 16 are women [approximately 20 today in 2012]  - and only one serves on the powerful 15-member executive board [two today]. A sizable majority of the 205 national Olympic committees have executive bodies that are at least 80 percent male, and only two of the 35 Olympic sports federations have women as presidents.

"I'm deeply disappointed," said Anita DeFrantz, the senior U.S. member of the IOC and chair of its Women and Sport Commission.

"I don't understand why we haven't been successful," she said. "I'm reviewing everything to determine what it is that's blocking us." [Um, sexism from men and the women who are the objective allies of sexism?]

One fundamental problem is that sports administration in many nations remains an old boys club. DeFrantz said change will be too slow unless the men in power commit themselves to grooming women as leaders.

DeFrantz also is among many advocates of women's sports who have run out of patience with Saudi Arabia, the last major nation that bars women from its Olympic teams. She wants the Saudis - who have fielded a 17-man squad in Beijing - to be excluded from the 2012 Games in London unless they end their males-only policy. [So far, no real progress there, despite the Saudi fake out this week which will allow the IOC to claim that the "problem" is "solved"]

"Perhaps after these games it will be clear they will be the only outliers and have to allow women to compete," DeFrantz said. "The women in that country deserve the opportunity."

Critics contend the IOC is failing to adhere to its own charter, which says discrimination on the basis of sex is "incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement." They suggest that a double-standard is at work, with the IOC more tolerant of gender bias than it was of the institutionalized racial segregation that triggered South Africa's exclusion from the Olympics during the apartheid era. [Yep.]

However, many IOC members may be reluctant to bar the Saudis from London.

"I'd be surprised and disappointed if we took such draconian action," said senior IOC member Kevan Gosper. "All that would do is have the athletes of that country suffer." [Well, the male athletes. Remember that the women athletes are already suffering, and you seem decidedly unmoved that their situation.]

Apartheid "was considered a crime against humanity," Gosper said. "I don't think that can be considered parallel to the effort to bring women into absolutely equal gender balance." [Alas, sexism is not considered a crime against humanity. But it should be.]

Whether Saudi Arabia changes on its own remains to be seen. The government is generally wary of angering conservative Islamic clergy, yet the issue of women in sports has been raised recently in the Saudi media and reportedly has been debated by a high-level government advisory council.

Saudi Arabia currently bans sports and physical education classes in state-run girls' schools. Women have discreetly formed a few sports teams on their own, but the level of competition is considered a world away from Olympic caliber.

Qatar joined Saudi Arabia this year in sending an all-male team to Beijing. But several Arab countries that formerly excluded women have relented - Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, for example. The UAE last week chose a woman as its Olympic flagbearer - Sheikha Maitha Almaktoum, a royal family member competing in taekwondo.

Ebrahim Abdul Malek, general secretary of the UAE's Olympic committee, told a local newspaper, The National, that this was a message to "the entire Gulf region and the whole Arab world. ... everyone, man and woman, should simply work hard at their sport. There are no limits at all."

Among the other Muslim women competing is Robina Muqimyar from war-torn Afghanistan, which was expelled from the Olympics when the women-oppressing Taliban was in power.

Muqimyar is back for a second Olympics after becoming one of the first two Afghan women ever to compete in the games four years ago.

"I want to change the history of Afghanistan," she said then. "I want the other women to watch me and see me and follow me."

Even within the realm of Olympic competition, there are some limits for women. Two sports - ski-jumping and boxing - remain male-only despite vigorous lobbying by the women who compete in them.

Nine women ski jumpers have filed suit against the organizers of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, alleging that excluding their sport is a violation of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees gender equality. The IOC insists women's ski jumping is too embryonic to be included - its first world championship isn't until next year.

The IOC rejected women's boxing for Beijing three years ago - in part because of concerns about the International Amateur Boxing Association that weren't related to gender. There may be a new bid next year to get women's boxing on the program for London. [Progress here, but synchronized swimming still lacks parity, with men being excluded from international competition, except at the Gay Games.]

Underrepresentation of women on the IOC may be the problem slowest to fade.

"It's different from running a race or playing a team event," Gosper said. "You don't have to be voted into a gold medal. But in administration, most positions are obtained by voting, and if you come from a base where it's almost been 100 percent masculine, it's going to be a more tedious and challenging process."

Saudi Arabia does the bare minimum to allow IOC to save face on religious discrimination against women

Dalma Rushdi Malhas, human fig leaf

From the BBC, news that Saudi Arabia may deign to respect international law and the Olympic Charter by allowing women (or rather, one woman) to compete in the Olympics. 

We note that the token woman is likely to be equestrian Dalma Rushdi Malhas, who competed in the first Youth Olympics, not as part of the Saudi Arabian team, but at the invitation of the IOC, and at her own expense. 

Note also that women remain in effect excluded from sport, and that only a very few sports could ever be open to women due to Islamist repression with regard to dress and access to public spaces.

We also note that the Saudis themselves explain that they were force to make this "concession" to the Olympic Charter only due to pressure and controversy, which is something to remember when the objective allies of repressive regimes call for quiet diplomacy rather than public action. The only reason the IOC was "negotiating" with the Saudis (and just why should an organization be negotiating to have its rules respected?) was because outside groups, including the FGG, have repeatedly called on the IOC to respect its own charter.

We fear that this token participation will allow the IOC to claim "victory", and that the exclusion of women from sport in Saudi Arabia and other Islamist countries will continue unabated, and that the calls for religion-based interference with the practice of sport, including the effective requirement for the hijab to be worn by women athletes, will only grow stronger.

Saudi Arabia is to allow its women athletes to compete in the Olympics for the first time.

Officials say the country's Olympic Committee will "oversee participation of women athletes who can qualify".

The decision will end recent speculation as to whether the entire Saudi team could have been disqualified on grounds of gender discrimination.

The public participation of women in sport is still fiercely opposed by many Saudi religious conservatives.

There is almost no public tradition of women participating in sport in the country.

Saudi officials say that with the Games now just a few weeks away, the only female competitor at Olympic standard is showjumper Dalma Rushdi Malhas.

But they added that there may be scope for others to compete and that if successful they would be dressed "to preserve their dignity".

In practice this is likely to mean modest, loose-fitting garments and "a sports hijab", a scarf covering the hair but not the face.

For the desert kingdom, the decision to allow women to compete in the Olympics is a huge step, overturning deep-rooted opposition from those opposed to any public role for women.

As recently as April, the indications were that Saudi Arabia's rulers would accede to the sensitivities of the religious conservatives and maintain the ban on allowing women to take part.

But for the past six weeks there have been intense, behind-the-scenes discussions led by King Abdullah, who has long been pushing for women to play a more active role in Saudi society.
'Subtle reform'

In secret meetings in Jeddah, officials say a consensus was reached in mid-June between the king, the crown prince, the foreign minister, the leading religious cleric, the grand mufti and others, to overturn the ban.

An announcement was ready to be made but then had to be delayed as the country marked the sudden death of Crown Prince Nayef.

"It's very sensitive," a senior Saudi official told the BBC. "King Abdullah is trying to initiate reform in a subtle way, by finding the right balance between going too fast or too slow.

"For example, he allowed the participation of women in the Shura council [an advisory body] so the Olympic decision is part of an ongoing process, it's not isolated."

The official acknowledged that to refuse to let women take part would have looked bad on the international stage.

"Partly because of the mounting criticism we woke up and realised we had to deal with this. We believe Saudi society will accept this," the official said.

Olympics struggle with ‘policing femininity’

Hat tip to Keph Sennett for this article from South Africa's The Star:

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA— There are female athletes who will be competing at the Olympic Games this summer after undergoing treatment to make them less masculine.

Still others are being secretly investigated for displaying overly manly characteristics, as sport’s highest medical officials attempt to quantify — and regulate — the hormonal difference between male and female athletes.

Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was so fast and muscular that many suspected she was a man, exploded onto the front pages three years ago. She was considered an outlier, a one-time anomaly.

But similar cases are emerging all over the world, and Semenya, who was banned from competition for 11 months while authorities investigated her sex, is back, vying for gold.

Semenya and other women like her face a complex question: Does a female athlete whose body naturally produces unusually high levels of male hormones, allowing them to put on more muscle mass and recover faster, have an “unfair” advantage?

In a move critics call “policing femininity,” recent rule changes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body of track and field, state that for a woman to compete, her testosterone must not exceed the male threshold.

If it does, she must have surgery or receive hormone therapy prescribed by an expert IAAF medical panel and submit to regular monitoring. So far, at least a handful of athletes — the figure is confidential — have been prescribed treatment, but their numbers could increase. Last month, the International Olympic Committee began the approval process to adopt similar rules for the Games.

Keep reading HERE.

The Federation of Gay Games and London and Paris synchronized swimming clubs appeal to IOC and FINA for equal treatment

We are writing to remind you of the principles of the Olympic Charter which state that “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”

Despite this noble principle, the Olympics continue to see discrimination between men and women in regard to the disciplines proposed to athletes. For the most part, this discrimination has affected women athletes, and great progress has been made in this area. But in at least one sport, it is men who are victims of this discrimination, which is no less intolerable than that aimed at women.

We are speaking of synchronized swimming, a sport with a long history of men's participation, and which is growing in number and quality of participants.

Despite the goals announced by British Olympic authorities to make the 2012 Summer Olympics a place for true equality, men will remain excluded from this discipline in London.

We are calling on you to act promptly to offer men synchronized swimmers the opportunity to compete – or at the very least participate in some fashion, in this summer's Olympic Games, to plan for full participation of men at future Olympics, and to open FINA international championships to men.

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.

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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.

Video portrait of Gay Games Ambassador Bruce Hayes

A video profile of Gay Games Ambassador Bruce Hayes, featuring friend of the Gay Games Jack Mackenroth.

FGG, along with IGLFA and Football v Homophobia, present letter to Brazilian and Russian Ambassadors

Today the French Olympic Committee hosted at its headquarters the 17th annual strategic conferences of the IRIS think tank. The theme of the conferences was "The strategic stakes for sport" (program HERE).

Originally the Brazilian and Russian ambassadors to France were to speak during the session devoted to "competition for the organization of world-class sports competitions". The FGG wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to call on these countries to respect human rights for all and to ensure that homophobia not spoil the events they'll be hosting (each country will be hosting both the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games). Our primary concern of course is Russia.

We were joined by FGG member organization International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, and by Football v Homophobia (read below). The goal was to have Marc Naimark, FGG vice president for external affairs, present these letters by hand to the ambassadors (who were in fact replaced by embassy advisors).

During the session, another participant raised the question of human rights in host countries. We expected a denial of any problems from the Russian embassy, but the response was particularly grotesque, along the lines of "Human rights? We don't respect human rights in Russia? I am totally confused by your question!" The response from the Brazilian representative was hardly better: "We have had enough of certain countries who think they can teach us lessons, who treat us as natives who they need to civilize." And all day long, the organizer of the event, Pascal Boniface, head of IRIS, treated with the greatest contempt any criticism of host countries on human rights grounds. But this is hardly surprising when you learn that Mr Boniface often works as a consultant in the Gulf, and often visits Qatar.(And we'll note in passing that of the 19 moderators and speakers, a grand total of 1 was a woman, former health and sports minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin.)

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You are speaking today at a conference on sport hosted by the French Olympic Committee. You are participating as representatives of your countries, which will soon be hosting major international sports events: the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. Brazil will be hosting the World Cup in 2014, and Russia in 2018, with the Winter Olympics hosted in Sochi in 2014 and the Summer Games in Rio in 2016.

These events must promote the universal values of sport, and in particular the principles of the Olympic Charter which declares that “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement”.

As LGBT sports organizations, we are concerned by the way in which LGBT athletes, trainers, journalists, officials, volunteers, spectators and fans will be treated at your events. The case of Russia is particularly worrying, given the progression of institutional homophobia in the country, the refusal of a project for a Pride House in Sochi, and a climate of violence and threats.

Everyone must be able to participate in sport, and all the more so for sports events that are supposed to unite people in universal human values.

This is why we are asking you to communicate to the political and sporting authorities of your countries our call for sports events that are open, welcoming, and safe for all, and in particular for LGBT participants, and to offer our assistance to make this so.

En français / La FGG, avec l'IGLFA et Football v Homophobia, interpelle les ambassadeurs russe et brésilien sur l'homophobie

Aujourd'hui s'est tenu au siège du Comité national olympique et sportif français les 17èmes conférences stratégiques annuelles de l'Institut de recherches internationales et stratégiques (IRIS) sur "Les enjeux stratégiques du sport" (programme ICI). 

A l'origine, les ambassadeurs du Brésil et de la Russie devaient intervenir lors de la séance sur "la concurrence sur l'organisation de compétitions sportives mondialisées". Voulant profiter de l'occasion pour interpeller les autorités de ces pays par rapport à nos préoccupations relatives aux effets de l'homophobie lors de la tenue de la Coupe du monde et les JO dans leurs pays (en fait, on se soucie surtout de l'homophobie dans la Russie), la FGG se proposait d'écrire un appel à ces pays à respecter les droits de tous, et de faire en sorte que l'homophobie soit exclue de ces manifestations.

On a été rejoint par l'International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, membre de la FGG, et Football v Homophobia dans cet appel (lire ci dessous). Le but était de profiter de la présence de Marc Naimark, vice-président de la FGG chargé des affaires extérieures, pour remettre en main propre cette lettre aux deux ambassadeurs, remplacés de fait par de hauts conseillers de leurs ambassades.

Lors de la session, un autre participant a évoqué la question du respect des droits de l'homme. On s'attendait à un déni de la part de l'ambassade russe, mais la réponse s'est avérée particulièrement éhontée. En gros : "Droits de l'homme ? On ne respecterait pas les droits de l'homme en Russie ? Je suis très surpris par cette question !" La réponse de l'ambassade brésilienne n'était guère meilleure. En gros : "On en a assez de certains pays qui se permettent de donner des leçons, nous traitant d'indigènes qu'il faut civiliser." Et tout le long de la journée, l'organisateur de la journée, Pascal Boniface, directeur de l'IRIS, a traité avec le plus grand mépris toute critique des pays hôtes de manifestations sportives au nom des droits de l'homme. En fait, lorsqu'on apprend qu'il consulte souvent pour les pays du Golfe, qu'il a beaucoup travaillé au Qatar, une telle attitude n'est pas vraiment étonnante.(On remarquera que dans la journée qu'il a organisée, sur les 19 intervenants, 1 seule était une femme, à savoir Roselyne Bachelot.)

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Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, Monsieur le Ministre conseiller,


Aujourd'hui vous intervenez lors d’une manifestation sur le sport tenu au Comité national olympique et sportif français. Vous parlez en tant que représentants de vos pays qui reçoivent bientôt de grandes manifestations sportives internationales : la coupe du monde FIFA et les Jeux olympiques. En effet, le Brésil reçoit la coupe du monde en 2014, la Russie en 2018, alors que les jeux d'hiver se tiendront à Sochi en 2014 et les jeux d'été à Rio en 2016.


Ces manifestations doivent véhiculer les valeurs universelles du sport, et notamment des principes de la Charte olympique qui déclare que « toute forme de discrimination à l’égard d’un pays ou d’une personne fondée sur des considérations de race, de religion, de politique, de sexe ou autres est incompatible avec l’appartenance au Mouvement olympique. »


En tant qu'organisations issues de la communauté lesbienne, gaie, bi et trans (LGBT), nous sommes préoccupées par l'accueil des hommes et des femmes sportifs, cadres sportifs, presse, officiels, bénévoles, journalistes, ou spectateurs et supporters LGBT lors de ces manifestations. Le cas de la Russie est particulièrement inquiétant, étant donné la progression de l'homophobie institutionnelle dans ce pays, le refus d'un projet de Pride House à Sochi, et un climat de violences et menaces.


Tous doivent pouvoir participer au sport, encore plus lorsqu'il s'agit de manifestations censées rassembler le monde entier autour de valeurs universelles humanistes.


C'est ainsi que nous vous prions de transmettre aux responsables politiques et sportifs de votre pays notre appel pour des manifestations sportives ouvertes, accueillantes, et sûres pour tous, et en particulier pour les participants LGBT, ainsi que notre proposition de collaborer pour ce faire.


En vous remerciant de votre attention, veuillez agréer, Messieurs les Ambassadeurs, l'expression de notre très haute considération.

For Sochi Pride House ban, IOC, as courageous as ever, refuses to act on homophobic discrimination

From GayStarNews:

Olympic bosses comment on gay games event ban
International Olympic Committee says discrimination is banned but fail to slap down Russian authorities who have outlawed Pride House from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi
20 March 2012 | By Tris Reid-Smith, Andy Harley

Olympic bosses have backed equality at the 2014 Winter games but avoided criticizing Russian authorities who have banned a gay Pride House from the event.

The first Pride House was held at the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada and it set to be repeated at the 2012 games in London this summer.

But, as Gay Star News reported last week, a judge in Russia has backed the ban imposed by the authorities on organizing Pride House for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender campaigners had planned the venue to be a meeting place for gay sportspeople and their supporters with events including a sports competition and photo exhibition.

But judge Svetlana Mordovina ruled against them saying that Pride House would threaten the growth of the Russian population and therefore risk the country’s ‘territorial integrity’.

She described the event as ‘breaching the understanding of good and evil, good and bad, vice and virtue’.

Now the International Olympic Committee has responded about the ban to Gay Star News, although they stop short of criticizing the Russian authorities directly.

An IOC spokesperson told us: ‘The Olympic Charter does not allow for discrimination against those taking part in the games.

‘The IOC is an open organisation and athletes of all orientations will be welcome at the games.’

But the sparse response is unlikely to satisfy GayRussia activist Nikolai Alekseev who has pledged not to give up on the fight to have a Pride House in Sochi.

Olympic officials shocked, shocked that Saudi regime discriminates against women

Toby Helm writes in the Guardian on the situation of Saudi athletes:

Saudi Arabia has been accused of breaching the spirit of the Olympic movement by discriminating against women in sport and failing to bring a female team to the 2012 London Games.

Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary and Olympics minister – who is now a member of the Olympic Board – said the Saudis were "clearly breaking the spirit of the Olympic Charter's pledge to equality" with their attitude to women in sport and the Games.

The Saudi government, which closed private gyms for women in 2009 and 2010 and severely limits their ability to undertake physical activity, is under mounting international pressure to adopt a more liberal approach.

Jowell spoke out after a report by Human Rights Watch highlighted the way in which Saudi Arabian women and girls are denied the right to sport.

[...]

The International Olympic Committee reserves a limited number of places for male and female athletes who are not required to meet the qualifying standards in swimming and athletics events. However, despite this concession, Saudi Arabia has never sponsored a female team and its national Olympic committee does not have a women's section.

Jowell stopped short of saying the Saudis should be excluded from this year's or future Games if they did not improve their record. But she called on them to demonstrate a commitment to change, noting that Afghanistan was banned from the 2000 Sydney Olympics over its attitude to women under Taliban rule.

"The London Games would be the perfect opportunity for the Saudis to spell out a way forward," she said. "I would like to see them set out a clear plan for equal inclusion of women in time for the 2016 games in Rio de Janiero. This has to be a substantive commitment."

Barbara Keeley, a Labour MP who works extensively to promote women's sport, said female athletes had fought for more than a hundred years to take part in the Olympics on an equal basis with men. "It is time to call a halt to discrimination against women in Olympic events. It seems totally unacceptable for any country competing in the Olympics to be allowed to have a team that is entirely male."

A spokesman for the IOC said some progress was being made. "The IOC strives to ensure the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement are universal and non-discriminatory, in line with the Olympic Charter and our values of respect, friendship and excellence. National Olympic committees are encouraged to uphold that spirit in their delegations. The IOC does not give ultimatums or deadlines, but believes a lot can be achieved through dialogue.

"We have been in regular contact with the three national Olympic committees that have yet to send women to the Olympics, ie Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia. As a result of fruitful discussions, the three NOCs included women in their delegations competing at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last summer. Dalma Rushdi Malas was one of them. She was the first female Saudi athlete to compete in an Olympic competition and claimed a bronze medal in the equestrian jumping event."

Read in full HERE.