Western Australia’s LGBTIQA+ archives, WestPride Archives, will document the history of the Gay Games with support from the state’s LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Grants.
WestPride Archives, housed at Murdoch University as part of the Library’s Special Collections Unit, will prepare the collection ahead of the Gay Games coming to Perth in 2030.
The Gay Games made their debut in San Francisco in 1982, originally as the Gay Olympics. Olympian Tom Waddell established the event after he saw the need for a LGBTIQA+ focused event to combat discrimination in the sporting realm.
Funding will support young curators from the LGBTIQA+ community to research and collect pieces of history tracing back to those early days.
WestPride Archives Co-Convenor and Committee Member Jo Darbyshire says the group is thrilled to be able to resaerch and games and include Western Australia’s history.
“We can also show the connection between West Australian history and the original GAGS (Gay Activities Group), which was the fundraising group for the WA AIDS Council (now WAAC) and the International Gay Games,” Darbyshire said.
Fellow Convenor and Committee Member Graham Grundy adds the collection will be shown as an exhibition in 2030 alongside the Gay Games.
“We’ll be collecting objects, photographs and stories about West Australians that have been involved in the Gay Games.”
WestPride Archives were among more than a dozen organisations who received LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Grants as part of the State Government’s LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy.
