Von Siegessäule.de:
Es ist ja nur ein Detail dieser Olympischen Sommerspiele, aber nicht nur für unsereins ein gewichtiges: Dass es ein Pride House gibt. Ein Haus, das offen ist für alle Gäste - aber gewidmet war und ist allen Sportlern und Sportlerinnen aus der LGBTI-Community. Kurzum: Schwulen und Lesben aus aller Welt. Londons Haus des Stolzes auf "sexual
otherness" ist das erste bei Sommerspielen, das erste überhaupt gab es
vor zwei Jahren in Vancouver zu den Winterspielen. Nun mögen routiniert gesinnte Gemüter sagen: Na klar, ist doch kein Wunder, dass in Kanada und Großbritannien solche Community Center standen und es in der Stadt der diesjährigen Spiele ja noch bis Sonntag Abend geöffnet hat.
Ich finde, dass künftige Städte von Olympischen Spielen ein solches Haus haben müssen. Es ist uns wichtig, es ist überhaupt wichtig für eine gute Welt, in der wir nicht unsichtbar sein oder bleiben wollen, es ist wichtig, wenn man so will, für die seelische Gesundheit der allermeisten Menschen: Die Differenz nicht nur zu tolerieren, sondern aktiv zu fördern. Ja, mehr noch: Ich finde, dass - am Beispiel des Pride Houses - nur noch Städte Olympische Spiele ausrichten dürfen, die sich bereits in der Bewerbung verpflichten, auch ein guter Ort für LGBTI zu sein.
Weiter lesen
Featured events
| 7-9 September 2012 Brussels Games Brussels  Learn more HERE. | 26-28 October 2012 QueergamesBern Bern, Switzerland  The success of the first edition of the QueergamesBern proved the need for an LGBT multisport event in Switzerland. This year will be even bigger, with badminton, bowling, running, walking, floorball. Learn more HERE. | 17-20 January 2013 Sin City Shootout Las Vegas  Learn more HERE. | 13-16 June 2013 IGLFA Euro Cup Dublin  Learn more HERE. |
Showing posts with label pride house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pride house. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
FGG at protest against homophobic ban on Pride House at 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia
 |
| Carl Schulz representing the FGG, center |
Protesters picket Sochi 2014 exhibition in London
LGBT Pride House banned at Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
London - 9 August 2012
“Russia must drop its ban on a LGBT Pride House at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The IOC should enforce the Olympic Charter and compel Russia to allow a Pride House for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) athletes.”
This appeal comes from protesters who picketed the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Exhibition in Kensington Gardens, London, today, Thursday 9 August.
“London 2012 has a LGBT Pride House but Russia won’t allow one at Sochi. This ban is part of a wider crackdown on LGBT communities and visibility in Russia. It is an attack on freedom of expression and association, and coincides with new laws in several parts of Russia that ban so-called homosexual propaganda,” said Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation and coordinator of Thursday’s protest.
“We have written to the IOC, urging them to intervene. Russia’s gay ban is contrary to the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the Olympic Charter. The IOC is duty-bound to require Russia to permit a LGBT Pride House,” he said.
Other participants in the protest echoed Mr Tatchell’s concerns.
Rakshita Patel, from the Peter Tatchell Foundation, added:
“It is really important for LGBT athletes to have a safe, welcoming space - with their friends and family - especially in countries like Russia where the atmosphere is currently very homophobic.”
Megan Worthing-Davies of Pride Sports (UK), said:
“The laws being used to forbid Pride House in Sochi are immoral, unfair and archaic. We call on Russia to repeal this ban.”
Carl Shultz, from the Federation of Gay Games, concluded:
“Pride House reflects the equality principles of the Gay Games and the Olympic Charter. The Russian judicial authorities that rendered the Sochi ban contradict the modern trend to equality and the Olympic ideal.”
Thursday's protest was supported by:
Pride Sports (UK)
The European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
The Federation of Gay Games
The Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association
Peter Tatchell Foundation
OutRage!
Saturday, August 11, 2012
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
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
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Where are the out Olympians?
From Jill Lawless, Associated Press:
LONDON – It has been a great games for gay Olympians — probably.
British equestrian Carl Hester won gold in team dressage in London. Midfielder Megan Rapinoe has scored three goals for the U.S. women’s soccer team and several other lesbian players are part of the Dutch field hockey team heading into Friday’s final.
But it’s likely there have been more triumphs by gay and lesbian competitors that the world doesn’t know about.
There are more than 10,000 athletes competing at the London games, but when the gay website OutSports.com set out to count how many were openly gay, it came up with 23.
“It’s an absurdly low number,” said site co-founder Jim Buzinski. He said that compared to the arts, politics or business worlds, “sports is still the final closet in society.”
Estimates of the percentage of gay people in any given population vary widely. In a 2010 survey by Britain’s Office for National Statistics, 1.5 per cent of respondents identified themselves as gay or bisexual, although many consider that an underestimate.
Only a handful of Olympic competitors have publicly identified themselves as gay, including Hester, Rapinoe, U.S. basketball player Seimone Augustus, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham and South African archer Karen Hultzer, who came out to the media during the games.
“I am an archer, middle-aged and a lesbian,” the 46-year-old athlete told OutSports — but said she looked forward to the day when her sexuality was not an issues. I am also cranky before my first cup of coffee,” she said. “None of these aspects define who I am, they are simply part of me.”
Gay sports groups say the London games organizers have been welcoming, including gay, lesbian and transgender volunteers among its staff and sanctioning an official games rainbow pin.
The London Pride House, a gay hospitality venue, had official approval from games organizers. London organizing chief executive Paul Deighton said the site helped show Britain as an inclusive place “which welcomes the world’s diverse communities and creates a safe sporting environment for LGBT athletes.”
But activists fear the next host city — Sochi in southern Russia — will be far less gay-friendly. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains strong. Protests by gay rights activists regularly end in mass arrests.
British rights activist Peter Tatchell and a handful of supporters rallied Thursday outside Russia’s Sochi Park pavilion in London to protest Russian authorities’ refusal to allow a pride house at the 2014 Winter Games — a decision that was backed up by a Russian court.
“Quite clearly, this ban is in violation of the Olympic charter, which prohibits discrimination and guarantees equality,” Tatchell said. He said the International Olympic Committee “doesn’t appear to want to engage with this issue.”
IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said the IOC would not comment “on private court cases,” but added that “the IOC is an open organization and athletes of all orientations will be welcome at the games.”
Marc Naimark of the Federation of Gay Games said the IOC should pressure countries to repeal anti-gay laws the way it once excluded South Africa for its racial apartheid policy and, more recently, succeeded in getting all competing nations to include female athletes on their teams in London.
“The lack of ‘out’ athletes in the Olympics is a symptom,” Naimark said. “It’s not the problem.”
There is a particular dearth of openly gay male Olympians — there are only three men on that London list of 23. The most high-profile is Mitcham, whose Twitter biography calls him “that gay, 2008-Olympic-gold-medal-winning diver dude.” He’ll be defending his 10-meter springboard title at the games this weekend.
Rapinoe, who came out earlier this year, said it was more difficult for male athletes than for women to be open about their sexuality.
“I think there’s a lot of gay women in sports, and it’s widely known in the team, they can live a pretty open lifestyle without being open in the media,” she said. “But I think for men unfortunately it’s not the same climate in the locker room.”
There’s also the fear of losing lucrative commercial endorsements. Sponsors would never admit that they would drop an athlete who came out as gay, but few competitors would want to risk it.
Much was made of the fact that former NBA player John Amaechi signed an endorsement deal with razor company HeadBlade after he came out in 2007. But HeadBlade is small potatoes compared to Adidas or other huge sports sponsors.
Times may be changing, however. Adidas spokeswoman Katja Schreiber said the company would stand by an athlete who chose to come out of the closet.
Buzinski thinks the environment for gay athletes is improving. He points to the growing number of athletes, gay and straight, who are prepared to speak out against homophobia.
Many athletes who come out say it has been a positive experience — and even performance-enhancing. Rapinoe scored two goals in the U.S. team’s semifinal win over Canada.
“I guess it seems like a weight off my shoulders,” she said on the eve of Thursday’s gold medal match against Japan. “I’ve been playing a lot better than I’ve ever played before. I think I’m just enjoying myself and I’m happy.”
___
Associated Press Writers Joseph White and Raissa Ioussouf contributed to this report. Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
LONDON – It has been a great games for gay Olympians — probably.
British equestrian Carl Hester won gold in team dressage in London. Midfielder Megan Rapinoe has scored three goals for the U.S. women’s soccer team and several other lesbian players are part of the Dutch field hockey team heading into Friday’s final.
But it’s likely there have been more triumphs by gay and lesbian competitors that the world doesn’t know about.
There are more than 10,000 athletes competing at the London games, but when the gay website OutSports.com set out to count how many were openly gay, it came up with 23.
“It’s an absurdly low number,” said site co-founder Jim Buzinski. He said that compared to the arts, politics or business worlds, “sports is still the final closet in society.”
Estimates of the percentage of gay people in any given population vary widely. In a 2010 survey by Britain’s Office for National Statistics, 1.5 per cent of respondents identified themselves as gay or bisexual, although many consider that an underestimate.
Only a handful of Olympic competitors have publicly identified themselves as gay, including Hester, Rapinoe, U.S. basketball player Seimone Augustus, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham and South African archer Karen Hultzer, who came out to the media during the games.
“I am an archer, middle-aged and a lesbian,” the 46-year-old athlete told OutSports — but said she looked forward to the day when her sexuality was not an issues. I am also cranky before my first cup of coffee,” she said. “None of these aspects define who I am, they are simply part of me.”
Gay sports groups say the London games organizers have been welcoming, including gay, lesbian and transgender volunteers among its staff and sanctioning an official games rainbow pin.
The London Pride House, a gay hospitality venue, had official approval from games organizers. London organizing chief executive Paul Deighton said the site helped show Britain as an inclusive place “which welcomes the world’s diverse communities and creates a safe sporting environment for LGBT athletes.”
But activists fear the next host city — Sochi in southern Russia — will be far less gay-friendly. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains strong. Protests by gay rights activists regularly end in mass arrests.
British rights activist Peter Tatchell and a handful of supporters rallied Thursday outside Russia’s Sochi Park pavilion in London to protest Russian authorities’ refusal to allow a pride house at the 2014 Winter Games — a decision that was backed up by a Russian court.
“Quite clearly, this ban is in violation of the Olympic charter, which prohibits discrimination and guarantees equality,” Tatchell said. He said the International Olympic Committee “doesn’t appear to want to engage with this issue.”
IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said the IOC would not comment “on private court cases,” but added that “the IOC is an open organization and athletes of all orientations will be welcome at the games.”
Marc Naimark of the Federation of Gay Games said the IOC should pressure countries to repeal anti-gay laws the way it once excluded South Africa for its racial apartheid policy and, more recently, succeeded in getting all competing nations to include female athletes on their teams in London.
“The lack of ‘out’ athletes in the Olympics is a symptom,” Naimark said. “It’s not the problem.”
There is a particular dearth of openly gay male Olympians — there are only three men on that London list of 23. The most high-profile is Mitcham, whose Twitter biography calls him “that gay, 2008-Olympic-gold-medal-winning diver dude.” He’ll be defending his 10-meter springboard title at the games this weekend.
Rapinoe, who came out earlier this year, said it was more difficult for male athletes than for women to be open about their sexuality.
“I think there’s a lot of gay women in sports, and it’s widely known in the team, they can live a pretty open lifestyle without being open in the media,” she said. “But I think for men unfortunately it’s not the same climate in the locker room.”
There’s also the fear of losing lucrative commercial endorsements. Sponsors would never admit that they would drop an athlete who came out as gay, but few competitors would want to risk it.
Much was made of the fact that former NBA player John Amaechi signed an endorsement deal with razor company HeadBlade after he came out in 2007. But HeadBlade is small potatoes compared to Adidas or other huge sports sponsors.
Times may be changing, however. Adidas spokeswoman Katja Schreiber said the company would stand by an athlete who chose to come out of the closet.
Buzinski thinks the environment for gay athletes is improving. He points to the growing number of athletes, gay and straight, who are prepared to speak out against homophobia.
Many athletes who come out say it has been a positive experience — and even performance-enhancing. Rapinoe scored two goals in the U.S. team’s semifinal win over Canada.
“I guess it seems like a weight off my shoulders,” she said on the eve of Thursday’s gold medal match against Japan. “I’ve been playing a lot better than I’ve ever played before. I think I’m just enjoying myself and I’m happy.”
___
Associated Press Writers Joseph White and Raissa Ioussouf contributed to this report. Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Jeff Sheng radio interview about "Fearless" exhibition at Pride House and LGBT sport in general
Jeff Sheng was on public radio in Los Angeles yesterday to talk about LGBT sport, homophobia in sport, and his Pride House version of his "Fearless" exhibition.
Listen to Jeff Sheng's interview online or download the MP3 on the KPCC website.
Listen to Jeff Sheng's interview online or download the MP3 on the KPCC website.
Be proud in Sochi! Protest homophobic ban on Pride House 2014 at Winter Olympîcs in Sochi, Russia
On Saturday 4 August, in response to an invitation from the Federation of Gay Games, LGBT sport and human rights groups met at Pride House 2012 to discuss action with regard to homophobia in the Olympic Movement. A key action item set was support for a Pride House at the 2014Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Russian authorities have already banned this Pride House project, with the International Olympic Committee refusing to take any action whatsoever to ensure that LGBT athletes, coaches, support staff and visitors will be able to meet in a safe place during these Games.
Based on this goal, the Peter Tatchell Foundation is organising a protest.
Thursday 9 August 10.30am at Sochi.Park, London: Protest against Russia's ban on Pride House at the Winter Olympics 2014 in Sochi
All interested in sport free from homophobia are urged to join us: placards will be provided. To indicate your presence please email Peter Tatchell at peteour@petertatchellfoundation.org and Pride House 2012 at pridehouse2012@gmail.com.
When?
Thursday 9 August at 10:30am
Where?
Protest outside the Sochi.Park exhibition in Kensington Gardens, London
Assemble at:
Albert Memorial
Kensington Gardens, Opposite Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore
London SW7
Map: http://gaymes.info/ph2012albert
Who?
Peter Tatchell Foundation
OutRage!
And the following partners in Pride House 2012:
Pride Sports UK
The European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation
The Federation of Gay Games
The Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association
Russian authorities have already banned this Pride House project, with the International Olympic Committee refusing to take any action whatsoever to ensure that LGBT athletes, coaches, support staff and visitors will be able to meet in a safe place during these Games.
Based on this goal, the Peter Tatchell Foundation is organising a protest.
Thursday 9 August 10.30am at Sochi.Park, London: Protest against Russia's ban on Pride House at the Winter Olympics 2014 in Sochi
All interested in sport free from homophobia are urged to join us: placards will be provided. To indicate your presence please email Peter Tatchell at peteour@petertatchellfoundation.org and Pride House 2012 at pridehouse2012@gmail.com.
When?
Thursday 9 August at 10:30am
Where?
Protest outside the Sochi.Park exhibition in Kensington Gardens, London
Assemble at:
Albert Memorial
Kensington Gardens, Opposite Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore
London SW7
Map: http://gaymes.info/ph2012albert
Who?
Peter Tatchell Foundation
OutRage!
And the following partners in Pride House 2012:
Pride Sports UK
The European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation
The Federation of Gay Games
The Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Pride House 2012 to welcome all during 2012 Olympic Games
The Federation of Gay Games is happy and proud to be part of this project! Spread the news, and if you can, visit Pride House 2012 in London!
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Lou Englefield, Director, Pride Sports UK
Email: lou@pridesports.org.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)7949 604610
Web: pridehouse2012.org
London, 11 July 2012
Pride House 2012 to welcome all during London 2012 Olympic Games
A gay-friendly venue to relax, to learn, to share, along with dozens of associated sporting and leisure events
Pride Sports UK, in collaboration with the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation, the Federation of Gay Games, GLISA International, the LGBT Consortium, and the Pride House Foundation, is pleased to announce Pride House 2012, a welcoming space for all athletes, staff, spectators and friends of London 2012. Pride House 2012 will be open from 3 to 7 August at CA House in Limehouse Basin, with the Pride House 2012 festival continuing in various venues through 12 August, the day of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Pride House 2012 will celebrate sport for all while bringing together members and friends of the worldwide LGBT community to view live screenings of London 2012 and discuss relevant topics related to LGBT sport. The varied programme will also include live music from local LGBT organisations, exhibits, and video presentations, as well as an associated sports programme, including a Football v Homophobia football tournament.
Featured as part of Pride House 2012 will be an exhibition provided by Pride Sports UK and the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation (EGLSF) entitled “Against the Rules’, presenting the history of LGBT sport through profiles of pioneering men and women athletes.
Lou Englefield, Pride Sports UK Executive Director, stated: “Pride House 2012 will provide a welcoming space for all, from Olympic athletes to recreational sports enthusiasts and spectators. Our aim is to welcome everyone to learn more about the vibrant LGBT sport movement while celebrating the London games.”
Emy Ritt, Federation of Gay Games Co-President, added: “With the opening of Pride House 2012, we continue to build on the legacy of 1968 gay Olympic decathlete Tom Waddell, founder of the Gay Games, the largest international sporting event open to all. We are pleased that Pride House 2012 will showcase LGBT sport and culture and the many clubs and organisations that have been created as a result of the first Gay Games in 1982.”
Olympic speed skater and Gay Games Ambassador Blake Skjellerup stated: “My visit to Pride House during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics was a major influence on my public coming out, and the support I received after doing so was overwhelming. Yet there is still a lack of LGBT based role-models in sport. I believe it is important for everyone, and especially young people, to see that no matter whom you are or where you come from, you can still succeed and reach your highest levels. The legacy from the London Pride House 2012 for future Olympic Games will make a difference!”
Paul Brummitt, secretary of the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA International) expressed his satisfaction with the project: “Pride House 2012 will be a showcase for local clubs, as well as regional and international events such as the World and Continental Outgames, the Gay Games, and the EuroGames.”
Chad Molleken, chairman of the Pride House Foundation, stated: “Pride House 2012 will continue to build on what began in Vancouver, bringing together the entire community and allies. The Pride House Foundation aims to increase the number of role models in sport by supporting athletes, sports organisations and educational initiatives beyond 2012.”
Scheduling is in progress, and propositions are welcome. Pride House 2012 welcomes all offers of help, whether financial, value in kind, or volunteers.
For more information about Pride House 2012, contact Lou Englefield: lou@pridesports.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7949 604610
Web: pridehouse2012.org
Lead partner:
Pride Sports, a social enterprise for the development of LGBT sport: pridesports.org.uk
Supporting partners:
EGLSF, the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation, bringing together over 300
European LGBT sports: eglsf.info
“Against the Rules”, the EGLSF exhibition on LGBT sports pioneers:
gaymes.info/againstherules
FGG, the Federation of Gay Games, the governing body of the Gay Games, the largest
international sport and culture event open to all: pridehouse.gaygames.org
GLISA International, the governing body of the World Outgames: glisa.org
LGBT Consortium (the Consortium of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Voluntary
and Community Organisations) is a national specialist infrastructure and membership
organisation that focuses on the development and support of LGBT groups, organisations
and projects: lgbtconsortium.org.uk
LGBT London, an online portal for LGBT Londoners with information about local LGBT organisations: lgbtlondon.com
Pride House Foundation, a foundation to raise awareness about homophobia in sport,
encourage healthy and active lifestyles and promote diversity and inclusion on a global
scale: pridehousefoundation.org
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Euro Pride House welcomes fans at UEFA Euro 2012
Throughout June Euro Pride House will screen matches, host a table football tournament and play host to a range of debates and networking events. Of course, there is also a very well stocked bar and great local seasonal food for any fans looking for a friendly place to relax during the tournament.
For more information about the Launch of Euro Pride House contact: Lou Manders, EGLSF Co-President: lou@eglsf.info
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Russian appeals court confirms homophobic ban on Sochi Pride House
A Sochi appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling denying registration to Pride House, a local gay movement, saying it constitutes a threat to Russia’s sovereignty, the Yugopolis news portal said on Wednesday.
The Sochi court said that Pride House's goals “undermine public morals and are at odds with national policy on the family, motherhood and children.”
The founders of Pride House were appealing an earlier ruling in a Krasnodar Territory regional court.
Pride House aimed to provide "an objective source of information on the LGBT movement in Russia and the world" for athletes and spectators during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Pride House, the Sochi court said, advocates a non-traditional sexual orientation that could spark social strife and lead to a decrease in the country’s already low birth rate, thereby “undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.”
On Monday, Russian Orthodox Church official Hieromonk Dimitri Pershin called for a nationwide law similar to one that was recently approved in St. Petersburg, which imposes fines for the promotion of homosexuality.
The law defines propaganda of homosexuality as "the targeted and uncontrolled dissemination of generally accessible information, which can damage the health, moral and spiritual development of the underaged."
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
For Sochi Pride House ban, IOC, as courageous as ever, refuses to act on homophobic discrimination
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.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Pride House London launch
Friday 9 December saw the official launch of the project at "London's Living Room" at the top of City Hall. Among those attending were Gay Games Ambassador John Amaechi, Pride Sports Lou Englefield, and FGG representative Carl Schultz. Among the patrons not attending were Gay Games Ambassador Blake Skjellerup, with other Ambassadors on the way.
More on the launch HERE.
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| John Amaechi |
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| Carl Schulz (right) |
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| Lou Englefield (center) and Emma Reed, UK Government Equality Office (right) |
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