Gay Games

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council is surprised to learn that

the U.S. Government has granted "Designated Event Status" to the 2006 Gay Games to be held in Chicago this July. The "Gay Games" are an event known as much for after-hours sexual activity as for on-field athletic competition. In fact, on the official Chicago Gay Games web site just as much emphasis is put on "entertainment" as on the event itself. This entertainment includes links to bathhouses and clubs where illicit and illegal activity is allowed.

Special foreign visitor status comes with privileges for the several thousand who will travel to the U.S. - a federal blanket waiver that permits non-U.S. citizens with HIV/AIDS to enter the United States to participate in or observe the Gay Games. Those travelers are eligible to apply for a single-entry B-2 travel visa that is valid from a week before the quadrennial event until six days after the closing date.

Perkins is not the only one surprised. As a resident of Chicago, I am not happy about this.

Of course, I wasn't really excited to find out that our fair city is hosting the Gay Games this July in the first place. At last report some 8,000 have signed up to participate in the games. This doesn't include spectators, many of whom I suspect will take advantage of the special blanket waiver noted above.

One of our far suburbs, Crystal Lake, initially turned down a permit request from the Gay Games committee to hold a rowing competition in a park there. After the park district president returned from a trip out of town, a public hearing was held and he cast the vote that overturned the earlier 2-2 tie. At the public hearing one gentleman complained that the impending vote was "not about sex" and "not about gay marriage -- its about rowing!" I beg to differ. If you are holding something you choose to call Gay Games, its at least in part about sex: Since when has "gay" not been about sex (though ill-defined etymologically speaking)?

Comments

[Rev Dave]

Hmmm.

Just how in the world can you hold "gay games" and say it's not about sex?

I'm having the disturbing thought of what the rules for entering any of the competition must be. The Olympics test to see if the people who enter are actually men or women (remember the freakish steriod treated East German women's teams?). How in the world would you test to see if someone competing in these games is actually gay? Do the organizers just take a comepetitor's word for it that he or she is homosexually active? Imagine the scandal if a bunch of heterosexuals competed and won!

Sigh.

[Juli]

Imagine the scandal if a bunch of heterosexuals competed and won!

It wouldn't be a scandal, given that participation is open to all.

Quoting from the FAQs:

Who can participate in the Gay Games?

Anyone can become a participant. The Gay Games welcomes all people without regard to their sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, political belief, physical ability, athletic/artistic ability, age or health status.

http://www.gaygames.com/en/federation/faq.cfm

Iow, these are not modeled on the Olympics - athletes don't have to qualify for teams. The model is more like the typical 5K or marathon, where people of all ability levels can sign up and try, and where the event might serve as PR (and raise money) for go a certain cause (eg, breast cancer research) w/out limiting participation to people personally involved with the cause (eg, breast cancer survivors).

[Cal Skinner]

If you would like to see the Gay Games through the eyes of a Crystal Lake blogger, go to McHenryCountyBlog.com. There is a 3400 word article about what happened at the meeting whent the park board bestowed its blessing on the event.

[F.P.Barbieri]

You have to be joking. The very notion of Gay Games postulate a reason to compete that is not in sport but in the emotional, physical or political allegiance to one particular (and depraved) point of view. And what kind of failure do you have to be at sports to get to the point where a medal in the "gay games" is a desirable goal to achieve? In this day and age, being a practicing homosexual is no obstacle to success in any sport, if it ever was. Look at Martina Navratilova. Who has ambitions so low, or so little talent, as to be willing to measure him/herself only against a small minority of the total talent pool? The Gay Games are not only a bad joke, they are an insult to sports.

[WWJD]

The Gay Games are open to anyone. There are no qualifying events, no minimum or maximum requirements, and no mandatory affiliations. The Games are built on the founding principles of Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best, and promote a supportive environment, free from bigotry, where participants achieve success by their own measure. More than a tournament or cultural program, the Gay Games is a gathering of the international sports and arts community that changes lives, attitudes, and the very nature of competition.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>The Games are built on the founding principles of Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best, and promote a supportive environment, free from bigotry, where participants achieve success by their own measure. <<<

To quote Gilbert and Sullivan:

When everybody's somebody
No one's anybody!