Gay Games Comes To Chicago

When I first heard that the Gay Games were going to be in Chicago this year, my first thought was: “Run! Hide! The city is gonna become a zoo!”

In All honesty, I had no idea what to expect. Chicago is no stranger to really big gay events, considering it’s hosted the International Mr. Leather (IML) Competition since it began in 1979. While neither our Pride Fest nor our North Halsted Merchants Association’s Market Days match the scope of either the Gay Games or IML, they’re both local achievements the local gay community is actually pretty proud of.

I first learned about the Gay Games in 1994, when several people I knew went to New York to compete. None of them won any of the events they competed in - but they all came back saying that that didn’t matter - what mattered was that they were there, they competed, made new friends, had a lot of fun, and they’re likely to remember those experiences for the rest of their lives.

Now that the Games have arrived, I have mixed feelings. After watching the Opening Ceremonies last night at Soldier Field, I was reminded about the spirit of the games. Hearing several of the presenters talking about how Dr. Tom Waddell started the Games in the 80s, his vision to bring together gay people from around the world. But, there were also constant reminders of politics.

Other than brief references to the current state of gay politics (such as the gay marriage issue) there was also some talk about the politics of the games themselves. For example, Dr. Tom Waddell first called the event The Gay Olympics, however in 1982, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) filed a lawsuit which forced them to change the name to the Gay Games. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has, since the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, exclusive rights to the word “Olympics.”

Many people believe this decision was homophobic in nature - considering that when the lawsuit was filed, the USOC didn’t seem to have a big problem with either the Nebraska Rat Olympics or the Police Olympics. Then, there’s also the Special Olympics where people with disabilities are encouraged to compete.

This year’s Gay Games are not without their controversey as well. The Games were originally slated to occur in Montreal (Canada) but after some disagreements between the city of Montreal and the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) their sanctions were pulled and the Games were moved here to Chicago.

Montreal was rather upset by this decision, and decided to play hardball. If they weren’t going to be allowed to host the Gay Games, they’d do their own thing that weekend, screw the FGG, the more people in Montreal, the less numbers will be in Chicago, and …

Thankfully before long, people began to realize that the only people who were going to suffer because of this was likely to be the athletes, and that’s not the true meaning of sportsmanship - so they formed the Outgames to be held later this year.

Some of this talk about politics is going to be expected, however I strongly feel that the more talk about politics, the less emphasis is going to be placed on what the Gay Games are all about -