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1. LGBT Olympic games
※Twenty years after becoming the first country to legally recognize same-sex unions,
Denmark hosted the World Outgames from July 25 to August 2, 2009.
Last year, Tokyo Wrestling went to Copenhagen where we met and interviewed staff at the World Outgames office. In the following pages, you’ll find a report on the 2009 event along with some handy information on queer hang-out spots in Copenhagen.
※Outgames poster in the office
The grand-scale LGBT event, World Outgames, was first held in Montreal, Canada in 2006 with more than 12,000 people in attendance. Last year, in 2009, participants from 98 countries, including Denmark, the U.S. and Germany, came to Copenhagen to take part in the 9-day event. To their delight, the World Outgames boasted a wide range of cultural activities, including human rights conferences, in addition to its core athletic competitions.
※Outgames cultural programme manager Jane Rowley
Why a Gay Olympics? Outgames cultural programme manager Jane Rowley explains:
“Out tennis player Martina Navratilova said it very well. She won a major international tournament for the first time during the same year that she publicly came out as a lesbian and she said the reason she won the tournament was that after coming out she could be 100 percent herself.”
Because homophobia is no stranger to the world of sports, “it’s natural that athletes would want to compete in a safe environment where they could be 100 percent themselves,” Rowley added.
“Homophobia is rank amongst male athletes, so much so that the expression ‘locker-room homophobia’ was coined to describe what they face,” she explained.
“Behind the scenes, gay athletes must tangle with very stressful conditions and the homophobia there makes it hard for them to come out. For these reasons, Outgames has become a popular venue for athletes who want to compete in an environment free from stress surrounding their sexualities.”
※Outside the Outgames Office
While athletes must pass numerous trials to qualify for the regular Olympics, Outgames welcomes everyone, from world-class competitors to players who just love to take part in a game.
Anyone interested in the event should check out the next Outgames. They’ll be held in Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city, in 2013!
Hot PR!
★The World Outgames’ official website: www.copenhagen2009.org
★For information on attacks during the Outgames, follow the link here.
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Translated by Yoriko Jin
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