In the stands at Gay Games IV in New York, June 1994. More than 11,000 athletes competed in the world’s largest sporting event.
Network Q’s show on the Games became the official video of Gay Games IV in New York.
Produced and directed by David Surber; Associate Producer Carol Morgan; camera and lighting by Louis Rodriguez; edited by Rick Rubin and David Surber; post production Niche Video and RG Video, New York, and CNN Post Production, Atlanta; incidental music Some Stuff from Huff.
Originally distributed via subscription on VHS tape; aired on public television in the US in 1995.

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Les Johnson with Ben Cohen at first Summit in 2012

The Federation of Gay Games is pleased to be taking part in the secod Nike LGBT Sports Summit. As at the first summit in 2012, the FGG will be represente by External Affairs cochair Les Johnson. Here’s Roger Brigham’s story from the Bay Area Report:

The second Nike LGBT Sports Summit will be held June 12-15 at the sports company’s corporate headquarters in Portland, Oregon, with roughly 100 activists and athletes converging to talk about making sports more inclusive and supportive.

That’s a major expansion from the inaugural summit, which was intentionally limited to about 30 participants. A group called the LGBT Sports Coalition organizes it.

Cyd Zeigler, the Outsports blog co-founder and founder of the coalition, said he was inspired to bring different elements of the LGBT sports rights movement together by the events of 2011, a watershed year which saw unprecedented numbers of sports figures coming out and organizations forming around issues.

“They were all trying to do similar things and they were all in competition with each other,” Zeigler said. “It seemed counterproductive. I wanted to see how we could learn from sports and play as a team.”

Zeigler talked about the idea with other activists, such as Helen Carroll of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Kirk Walker, who was coaching softball at Oregon State at the time before moving to UCLA. Walker’s contacts at Nike secured the site for a proposed summit.

Organizations involved in the inaugural summit included American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; Athlete Ally; Br{ache the Silence; Campus Pride; ESPN; Fearless Campaign; Federation of Gay Games; GLAAD; Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network; I Am Enough; It Gets Better project; NCLR; National Collegiate Athletic Association; Nike; Our Group Athletes (re-named Go Athletes); Outsports; StandUp Foundation; and You Can Play project.

“It is a coalition of organizations and individuals who are committed to ending homophobia and transphobia in sports by 2016,” Zeigler said.

Several groups from the summit have been discussing anti-bullying issues over the last year, and representatives from the coalition met in January to tackle two tasks: organizing a second, expanded summit to bring in more stakeholders; and draft a proposed agreement for the coalition members to formalize their commitment.

Zeigler said about 120 individuals and organizations have been invited and he expects from 80 to 100 to attend. Some stakeholders will not be able to attend because of schedule conflicts, such as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention, June 10-15 in Orlando.

Main coalition members will meet on June 12. Most of the summit attendees will arrive for a reception on June 13 and workshops on June 14. Those invitees include LGBT sports organizations, events such as Sin City Shootout, sports directors, and athletes. Workshops will be held for media, for athletes, for coaches and for administrators.

Keep reading here. 

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A great story on Ji Wallace from HIV Plus magazine:

A gold Olympic medal is 93% silver.

Ji Wallace, who won second place in trampoline in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, points out that a thin exterior plating is the only physical difference between the gold and silver medals.

“So really, everybody comes second, don’t they?” the Australian Olympian jokes. “It’s just a pretty paint job.”

In conversation, Wallace laughs often. He pokes fun at his shortcomings, while remaining modest about his remarkable athletic achievements. In addition to his Olympic silver medal, Wallace won gold at the 1996 Trampoline World Championships and set a world record for the double mini trampoline in 1998.

Since coming out as a gay man in 2005, Wallace has been an activist, role model, and—after a photograph of him in a Speedo went viral—a sex symbol. He has served as Australia’s first Gay Games ambassador and was a guest of honor at the London Pride House during the 2012 Summer Olympics. It was there that he watched a television broadcast with Greg Louganis, a former Olympic diver who is HIV-positive.

“I happened to catch a Piers Morgan interview with Greg Louganis on CNN,” Wallace says. “And when I was writing a thank-you letter to Piers Morgan—for just interviewing Greg as a person, not Greg the HIV diver—these words were ringing in my head: ‘There is value in being seen and heard.’”

Keep reading here.

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Gay Games IV was the largest sporting event in the world, and Stonewall 25 was the largest gay pride celebration. They happened at the same time in New York in June, 1994, so the parties were pretty spectacular. Here are some of them, including the AMFAR benefit on the USS Intrepid.
Network Q’s show on the Games became the official video of Gay Games IV in New York.
Produced and directed by David Surber; Associate Producer Carol Morgan; camera and lighting by Louis Rodriguez; edited by Rick Rubin and David Surber; post production Niche Video and RG Video, New York, and CNN Post Production, Atlanta; incidental music Some Stuff from Huff.
Originally distributed via subscription on VHS tape; aired on public television in the US in 1995.

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News from FGG member organization EGLSF:

UpFront Challenge To Homophobia & Transphobia For Young Sports Fans

Friday 17 May 2013, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) sees the official release of a brand new Football gaming app for mobile devices onto the market. Designed with an emphasis on fun and to challenge the skills of 11-16 year old gamers and other users, ‘UpFront’ also carries an important message – “Discrimination in sport is wrong”.

The game is released by the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) as part of its ‘Pride in Sport’ project, an initiative funded within the European Commission’s Preparatory Actions in the Field of Sport.

Andrej Pisl, EGLSF Development Officer explains: “Education has a huge part to play in tackling discrimination, hate speech and violence in sport. We wanted to create an education tool that young people want to play first and foremost, that helps them understand that football should be for everyone.”

The launch of the game coincides with the release of a report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) into the experience of ‘Being LGBT in Europe’, which highlights persistent levels of discriminatory experience in schools by young LGBT people. 91% of respondents in the research had ‘seen or heard negative comments or conduct before the age of 18 because a schoolmate was perceived to be LGBT’.

EGLSF Co-Presidents Armelle Maze and Klaus Heusslein conclude “Even in countries with robust protective legislation, the experience of young LGBT people remains negative and homophobic and transphobic bullying remains rife. Quite often sport, and in particular school sport, can be a focus for this. EGLSF is working to affect a culture change in sport throughout and this has to start with young people.”

More information about the game can be found at www.upfront.mobi and further information on the Pride in Sport initiative can be found at www.prideinsport.info.

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The 2013 Orlando Business Journal’s 40 under 40 awards were just announced. It includes 2 openly gay leaders this year: Mikael Frank Audebert (MBA Orlando President and Project Director for Orlando 2018) and local media powerhouse Watermark Media’s CFO Rick Claggett. Those people who are recognized for this award are the men and women throughout the region who have played a key role in shaping the Orlando area communities. They are people who have proven their potential by taking leadership roles in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and/or Lake counties.

“This award goes out to the whole LGBT community in Orlando, not to just two individuals. Our work in making our community a better place to work, live and raise a family would not be possible without the support of entire teams of volunteers and partners who too deserve to be recognized” said Mikael Frank Audebert in a statement.

“I thank the Orlando Business Journal for its continuing coverage of our projects and actions, be it for the Gay Games bid or for the other efforts we have undertaken to grow Orlando’s LGBT tourism base and make our city a major center for LGBT sporting competitions.This award is yet another proof that we are on the right track and I look forward to furthering our mission over the months and years to come” added Audebert.

Find out more about the 2013 40 under 40 award recipients by clicking here

Find out more about the bid to host the 2018 Gay Games to Orlando by clicking here

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