X-Nico

16 unusual facts about Gay Games


1987 in LGBT rights

25 — In San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee the United States Supreme Court rules that the Gay Games may not use the word "Olympic" in its name because of the trademark held by the USOC.

2014 Gay Games

According to the Federation of Gay Games, fourteen cities expressed interest in hosting the 2014 Gay Games (Gay Games IX).

365gay News

Occasionally the channel would air full half-hour specials on stories of interest to the LGBT community, such as the Gay Games, yearly gay pride events, the October 2006 ruling in the same-sex marriage case in New Jersey, Lewis v. Harris, and the issues facing gay voters in the 2006 mid-term elections.

Anton Enus

Enus was a founding member of South Africa's gay and lesbian sports movement in the early 1980s and was on the organising team that guided the country into the Gay Games for the first time in 1994.

Betty Baxter

Baxter was not actually out as lesbian at the time, but subsequently came out and served as a board member of the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver.

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

Dr. Tom Waddell, founder of the Gay Games; his story is told by his friend and the mother of his child, Sara Lewinstein.

David Secter

Also in 2005, David Secter directed and released a documentary film on the Gay Games, Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace, Grit, and Glory.

Ignatius Jones

In November Jones directed the 2002 Gay Games Opening Ceremony, he greeted the audience of 38,000 with "Australia and the gay and lesbian community is not so much a melting pot ... We are more of a mixed salad, where every part remains separate, yet adds to the wonder of the whole ... I have been lucky, I have never had to come out, I was never in".

Lesbian Avengers

The second New York City Dyke March, coinciding with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Gay Games IV, and international human rights conferences, was actually an International Dyke March, attracting as many as 20,000 marchers from all over the world.

Men's Cup

Recent Gay Games, World Outgames and EuroGames included competitions for men's solo, duo and team formations.

Out To Swim

Inspired by the swimming teams at the Gay Games in Vancouver in 1990, the club has competed at national and international competitions; it has expanded to include a synchronized swimming team, and regularly competes in open water events.

Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures

LGBT communities organize a number of events to celebrate their culture, such as Pride parades, the Gay Games and Southern Decadence.

Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

The United States Olympic Committee has used the law to force the "Gay Olympics" to change their name to the Gay Games.

Tom Waddell

The international sporting event was later renamed the Gay Games after the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) sued Waddell for using the word "Olympic" in the original name.

Traude Bührmann

She is a co-organizer of the European photo exhibition Lesbian Connexions, which were shown at the Gay Games in Amsterdam for the first time in 1998.

Ulrike Folkerts

Folkerts, who is openly lesbian, participated in the Gay Games 2002 in Sydney and won a silver and bronze medal in the swimming relay.


International Gay and Lesbian Football Association

The association is affiliated with the Federation of Gay Games and awards the annual Tom Waddell Memorial Trophy (created in 1988) to the winner of its men's tournament (held as part of the Gay Games in years when that event is held).