Scout.com on gays in the Olympics

From Scout London:


The Olympics – a gay affair
LGBT Sport & Fitness
24 July 2012


Jack Cullen looks at what is being done to tackle homophobia in the modern Olympics

[...]

Today, major hurdles are stacked in front of gay athletes. Nearly 80 of the countries taking part in London 2012 criminalise homosexuality, which seems behind the times to us in London but would have been totally alien to the ancient Greek founders of the events.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell is demanding the Olympics Committee ban these countries from competing, on the ground that their policies violate the Olympics Charter.

Although this is unlikely to happen, the fight is not lost. To battle homophobia in the Olympics, The Gay Games was set-up in the early 80s by 1968 decathlete Tom Waddell. It is now the biggest non-discriminating sports tournament in the world.

The organisation has several gay sporting heroes on its ambassadors board, including Winter Olympics star Blake Skjellerup (who admitted he didn’t come out before the Vancouver 2010 Games because he was concerned it might affect his sponsorship).

This summer it is running Pride House in Limehouse, which aims to provide a place to
“celebrate sport for all, while uniting members and friends of the worldwide LGBT community”.

The Limehouse base [at CA House] is a step down from the original ambition [of a commercial promoter] to have the second largest Olympic house at this year’s Games.

Organisers [of the original project] blamed a lack of sponsorship, but were undeterred by the set-back and [the new group organising Pride House] insist the downsized Pride House is ready to make a big noise from August 3-7. There will also be a Pride House Festival, running at the venue itself and throughout London from August 3-12.

Gay Games ambassador and world champion power-lifter Chris Morgan told Scout: “The Olympics has a bad track record with acceptance, so it’s important that we support the handful of gay athletes out there.”

Visitors to Pride House will be cheering on the three openly gay Team GB athletes competing in this year’s Games: equestrian Carl Hester, para-equestrian Lee Pearson and Paralympics volleyball player Clare Harvey.

But they’re not the only ones from the LGBT community who’ll be in the spotlight. Commentator Bob Ballard and TV top gun Claire Balding will be among the BBC’s gay anchors.

[...]


Read in full HERE.

Interview with Sara Waddell Lewinstein

The Windy City Times has a lovely interview with Sara Waddell Lewinstein, a founder of the Gay Games, widow of Dr Tom Waddell,and winner of the 2010 Tom Waddell Award. Here's an extract:

[Sara] will be in Cleveland in 2014. Lewinstein said Waddell would be "ecstatic" that his vision—the Gay Games—is stronger than ever. "He definitely provided a civil-rights movement for our culture," Lewinstein said. "I think he'd say, 'Let's go back to the quality instead of the quantity of how many sports are actually participated in.' He'd be so proud of the Gay Games, and [there's] no reason he shouldn't be.

Read in full HERE.

For Interpride magazine, LGBT sport starts with Tom Waddell at 1968 Olympics

The 2012 Interpride magazine features 16 "Game Changers", "16 amazing Americans who are giving their
all to promote equality on (and off) the court". Their timeline gives pride of place to the Gay Games, starting with Dr Tom Waddell's participation in the 1968 Olympics, then his feature as the first gay couple in People magazine's "Couples" section, and Gay Games I in 1982.

Read the article here:

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2012

GLSEN profile of Dr Tom Waddell on US National Running Day

From GLSEN Sports Project/Changing the Game:

Today is National Running Day.

Did you know Tom Waddell (1937 - 1987) was a decathlete on the 1968 United States Olympic team in Mexico City. He was also a gay man. He founded the international sporting event called the Gay Games, which began in 1982 and is held every four years. Thousands of LGBT and ally athletes from around the world participate in the Gay Games. Waddell originally called this event the Gay Olympics, but was sued by the United States Olympic Committee for using the word "Olympic" in the original name.

Dr Tom Waddell AIDS memorial quilt panel

Thanks to Ross Hayduk for this photo of the Tom Waddell panel. 

From SeasonOfPride.com:

January 26, 2012 – San Francisco, CA – Courtesy of Under One Roof (www.underoneroof.org), the NAMES Project Foundation (www.aidsquilt.org), the AIDS Emergency Fund (www.aef-sf.org), and San Francisco businessman Petyr Kane, sections of the renowned AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at various locations in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood the week of February 12 – 20, 2012.

Keep reading HERE.

Tom Waddell and other Gay Games pioneers remembered at National AIDS Memorial Grove

(Ross Hayduk)

Gene Dermody has allowed us to share his message after the recent "Light in the Grove" event in the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park.

It was a wonderful inspiring experience. Thank you John Cunningham, Kyle Ozier, and Robbie Davis for an awesome evening! Events like this recharge your batteries and motivate you to continue the volunteerism. You are seriously reminded of why you do what you do.

The Circle of Friends had me in tears as I traced the names and lit votive candles for all those I knew (and I knew about 3/4 of those remembered!). This year, Tom Waddell's name was inscribed along with many other Gay Games people.

There was also a room where the faces of many who passed during those sad years were projected onto all four walls. I managed to get many Gay Games veterans from 1982 and 1988 into this tribute. I used many action shots from the Games that were cropped and they actually dominated the projections. I watched as many people came in and asked who these faces were, and I was so honored and excited to relate their stories... again and again. The job kept me from breaking down, and the people filing through were motivated and moved to know a little something of these young smiling faces cut down in their prime. It was a connection to the early leadership of the Gay Games movement, adding some humanity, some stark realism, and lightening the sombre edge of the memorial.

I included Rick Windes, Carl Martin, Gary Lonien, Don Jung, George Ochoa, Michael Bishop, Pete Runyon, Michael Lott, Steve Swanson, Gary France, Josh Persky, Peter Gomez, Tim Cech, Mike Rio, Jerry Carlson, etc... Mostly wrestlers, with some swimmers, soccer, track, singers, etc.., but all veterans and friends from that magical (and sad) time I can never forget.

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More on the Grove:

The National AIDS Memorial Grove, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, is a dedicated space in the national landscape where millions of Americans touched directly or indirectly by AIDS can gather to heal, hope, and remember. For all the promising prospects on the horizon, AIDS continues to invade our lives, violate our past, and rob us of our comfortable assumptions about the future. The sacred ground of this living memorial honors all who have confronted this tragic pandemic both those who have died and those who have shared their struggle, kept the vigils, and supported each other during the final hours.

The National AIDS Memorial Grove signifies that the global tragedy of AIDS will never be forgotten.

The National AIDS Memorial Grove is a living tribute to all whose lives have been touched by AIDS. Our mission is to provide a healing sanctuary, to increase awareness of this national treasure, and to promote learning and understanding of the human tragedy of the AIDS pandemic.

The National AIDS Memorial is more than a sentinel to the memory and honor of all who have shared in the struggle against AIDS. From monthly volunteer Workdays to ceremonies and celebrations, there is a lot going on in the Grove.

Remembering Dr Tom Waddell on World AIDS Day

We're going to adapt a post from Team Chicago, because it's pretty fine:

On World AIDS Day, we celebrate Dr. Tom Waddell, a physician, a humanitarian, an Olympic athlete, and the founder of the Gay Games. The Gay Games is the largest international sporting event open to all, including POZ athletes and artists.

We celebrate the many lives lost, and the many people who survive, and who join us every four years at each Gay Games.

We will have more news in coming weeks on the issue of AIDS, and in particular our hopes for the most welcoming Gay Games ever for HIV-positive people in 2014 in Cleveland+Akron.

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In 2012, let's let the three interlocked rings of the Federation of Gay Games logo stand for:

Zero new HIV infections	Zero discrimination	Zero AIDS-related deaths

And let the fact that they are interlocking rings remind us of the need for solidarity between people with AIDS and others, between rich and poor, between regions of the world.

Interview of cochair of San Francisco Rainbow Honor Wall

Among the first 20 honored is Dr Tom Waddell, founder of the Gay Games. More HERE.

More and more athletes are coming out: let's not forget the first flakes of this snowball effect

David Kopay

Ross Forman in the Windy City Times and Cyd Ziegler in Outsports take a look at the incredible number of sports figures who have come out so far this year.

Cyd counts a total of 25 for the year to date, and notes for the month of January alone, the following:

• Steve Buckley, Boston Herald sports reporter
• Johnny Weir, Olympic figure skater
• Travon Free, former Long Beach State men’s basketball player (bisexual)
• Akil Patterson, greco-roman wrestler
• Brad Usselman, Washington high school runner
• Robert Scott, high school soccer player
• Ben Newcomer, high school soccer player

In his piece, Ross quotes Cyd: "My prediction for 2015 is, we will look back at 2011 as the year gay equality in sports made its seismic shift. While we might not have our Jackie Robinson, 2011 will be our 1947", in his in-depth look at the situation, including kudos to straight allies like hockey's Burke family and Athlete Ally founder Hudson Taylor.

These are great observations, but we wanted to add our own: the idea of a phenomenon "snowballing" is that it starts small and slow, and gradually picks up more and more speed, and grows bigger and bigger, faster and faster. Anything that snowballs starts somewhere. The sports figures that have come out so far this year will make it easier for even more athletes, officials, administrators, journalists and others in the world of sports to live their lives openly as gay men and women.  And it was those who came out in 2010 who made it easier for this year's crop. And the ones that came out before them, and before them.

Our goal and our hope is that it shouldn't require courage to come out: it should be perfectly natural, perfectly safe. Those coming out now are brave. And those who came out before were even braver. So let's celebrate the growing number of out sports figures, but not forget, and not forget to thank, those that came before them.Thanks to Tom Waddell, to Dave Kopay, to Billie Jean King, and all those who followed!

En français: "Pourquoi les Gay Games?" du Dr Tom Waddell

Pourquoi des Gay Games ? 

Voici un extrait du Livre blanc rédigé en 1982 par le docteur Tom Waddell, le fondateur des Gay Games, afin de répondre à la question : Pourquoi des Gay Games?

I. Introduction

Les Gay Games San Francisco 1982 qui viennent de se dérouler constituent un évènement phénoménal dans l'histoire des homosexuels. Ce fut une Olympiade dans le sens le plus authentique du terme : un festival sportif et artistique.

Mais ces jeux ont été bien plus encore !

Ces premiers Gay Games ont été une véritable expérience collective en matière d'unité et d'éducation. Ils ont également été un puissant moteur de changement.

J'emploie le mot « expérience » dans son sens scientifique, puisqu'il s'agissait d'un processus de découverte. En regardant de près notre communauté faite de femmes et d'hommes qui vivent leur homosexualité de manière ouverte, nous constatons actuellement une période de mutation rapide. Nous sommes en train de passer d'une communauté unidimensionnelle luttant contre la discrimination à une communauté complexe à facettes multiples, capable de proposer une multitude d'horizons nouveaux pour nous-mêmes, et pour autrui.

En tant que femmes et hommes ouvertement homosexuels, nous avons obtenu de nouvelles et importantes libertés qui vont dans le sens d’une libération de l'oppression liée à nos préférences sexuelles. Mais notre lutte ne doit pas s'y cantonner. Ces progrès récents font partie d'un processus qui doit s'élargir pour englober d'autres secteurs de nos vies. En bref, nous devons mieux connaître le processus de notre libération sexuelle pour mieux le mettre en œuvre en vue d'autres formes de libération.

Dans les Gay Games il n’y a ni séparatisme, ni exclusion. Ils ne sont pas orientés vers la victoire et ne visent pas de profits commerciaux. Au contraire, ils visent à rassembler une communauté mondiale dans un esprit d'amitié, à expérimenter la participation, à ouvrir les esprits et à renforcer l'estime de soi, tout en réalisant une certaine synergie culturelle et intellectuelle.