The Gay Games made their debut in San Francisco in 1982. Originally they were called the Gay Olympics.
The idea for a gay sporting competition akin to the Olympics was the brainchild of Olympian Tom Waddell. Wadell participated in the Decathlon in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, before becoming a medical doctor. He saw the need for a LGBTIQA+ focused event as people often experienced discrimination in the sporting realm.
Unlike the Olympics, there is not qualifying round, those who are willing to make the trip to the host city and take part are welcomed, and there is no requirement to disclose your sexuality.
Since its initial set up in San Franciso, which hosted the inaugural event in 1982 and the follow up in 1986, the event has been held in many cities.
Vancouver, New York, Amsterdam, Sydney, Chicago, Cologne, Cleveland-Akron and Paris have all played host.
The most recent games were originally planned to be held in Hong Kong in 2022, but they were pushed back a year due the Corona virus pandemic. Guadalajara in Mexico was added as an additional host city with events split across the two locations.
The next Gay Games are to be hosted in Valencia, Spain in 2026. Seven cities are in the running to host the 2030 event including Perth and Melbourne. The last time the Gay Games was held in Australia was in 2000 when they took place in Sydney.
The Gay Games are a different event to the World Out Games, a splinter organisation that emerged in the early 2000s.
Their event came crashing down in 2017 when on the first day of the 10-day-long event in Miami organisers emailed participants to announce it had been cancelled. A move leaving sports people who had travelled from around the globe dumbfounded.
