03/10: March 2010
EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Historic EGLSF AGA in Manchester One global LGBT Sporting event The wishes of many LGBT athletes around the globe will be becoming true - as of 2018, we are to get one global LGBT sporting event, due to the joint proposal of the Co-Presidents of FGG and GLISA. EGSLF is happy and proud that this proposal was made at our General Assembly in Manchester, and fully supports this initiative, which has already been backed up by boards of both organisations.
Contents HISTORIC EGLSF AGA IN MANCHESTER EGLSF INFO NEWS SECTION SPORTS EVENTS COMING UP...
Pride Sports hosted the 2010 Annual General Assembly of the European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF AGA 2010) from March 5 to 7 in Manchester, UK. The AGA was infused with a sense of history from the start. The meeting of sports clubs from throughout our continent saw delegates from Eastern (Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria), Southern (Spain, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia), Northern (Finland, Denmark), Central (Poland, Hungary, Germany) and Western (France, Belgium, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland) Europe. The weekend began with a reception in the Manchester Museum, built in 1867, and continued with an personal welcome of all delegates by the Mayor of Manchester in the City’s beautifully ornate neo gothic Town Hall. A tour of the City’s major sports venues completed the itinerary; arenas in which sports men and women from
“If people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful.” Michelangelo Buonarroti - Italian Painter, Sculptor and Architect
throughout the world continue to make their own contributions to the history books. For LGBT sports people, however, the most historic moment occurred within the
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Assembly itself, when the Co-Presidents of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG), Emy Ritt and Kurt Dahl and the Co-Presidents of Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA) Julia Applegate and Wessel Van Kampen outlined a proposal for future collaboration between the two organisations, which includes the proposal to organise a joint world event in 2018. The proposal has yet to be agreed by the Boards of both organisations, but European sports groups are hoping for a full commitment in the not too distant future. As Pepe Garcia Vazquez, male Co-President of EGLSF explains: “Many of our member clubs have expressed a desire for a return to a single quadrennial global LGBT sport event. The joint statement received a standing ovation lasting almost two minutes at the Assembly! This surely demonstrates how important this is to our membership.” The Assembly also agreed important actions on a range of European LGBT sports development issues and saw the election of new Board members Marie Kampmann (Denmark) and Armelle Mazé (France) as well as the re-election of Treasurer Juha Meronen (Finland). Existing UK Board member Louise Englefield was elected to the position of Female Co-President. Speaking in the wake of the Joint GLISA/FGG statement, Louise said: “I’m honoured to have been elected by the EGLSF membership to this role and I am hugely proud to join Pepe in leading the Board through this exciting period in LGBT sporting history.” EGLSF invites you to express support for the initiative of having a joint global event by sending an email both to FGG and GLISA - info@gaygames.org and info@glisa.org.
EGLSF Info EGLSF Funding The EGLSF Board is pleased to announce the recipients of the first round of Innovation & Good Practice Grants. These are: • Frankfurter Volleyball Verein (FVV) – towards the establishment of a new sports group for younger HIV+ gay men. • Out In Slovenia – towards the cost of two youth football & human rights tournaments. • Panteres Grogues – for a campaign to promote the inclusion and promotion of women in LGBT sport. • Volup – for the organisation of an open international volleyball tournament in Poland. • QSport – for the development of a pro-active outreach project in south east Europe. Female Co-President, Lou Englefield says of this year’s grant decisions: “In our first year, despite a small fund of only 5,000 Euro, we have been able to allocate five grants to excellent projects
which we feel very much reflect the strategic priorities of the Federation. Unfortunately we could not fund all applications and we have had to say no to some good proposals. Next year, however, we aim to have secured some sponsorship for the Fund, and we hope to see further applications from member clubs at that time.” Groups which have been successful in their application to the Fund will share experiences from the development and delivery of each of the projects in order to disseminate good practice across EGLSF member groups. For more information about the grants programme, please see http://www.eglsf.info/eglsf-funding.php
Discussions We have received two invitations for open discussion by our member club qSport on the topics of Depolarising of institutional LGBT sport and Challenges in Eastern Europe. Please see the links: http://int.qsport.info/Depolarising_of_ institutional_LGBT_SPORT http://int.qsport.info/CHALLENGES_of_ Eastern_Europe
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
News Section
News submitted by our members Tanja Walther-Ahrens receives award from local FA 1 March 2010 Tanja Walther-Ahrens, the EGLSF representant at Football Against Racism Europe (FARE) and board member of the Berlin lesbian sports club Seitenwechsel (Germany) has been selected Volunteer of the Year by the Berlin FA out of 60 nominees. It is a good sign that the quite traditional Berlin FA award a lesbian activist for her fight against homophobia and her volunteer work in a lesbian sports club. Today 20 girls and 80 women play football at Seitenwechsel. Thanks to Tanja and other volunteers.
One Games: Statement GLISA
accomplishments and honouring the past will be key aspects, while evolving to reflect the continual world societal changes. We see a number of steps needed to move in this direction: - Both organizations have committed to supporting and participating in the upcoming scheduled events: FGG: GayGames in Cologne, Germany and Cleveland, USA; GLISA: Continental Outgames in Wellington, New Zealand and Vancouver, Canada in 2011 and the 3rd World Outgames in Antwerp, Belgium in 2013. - More discussions and collaboration are needed between the two organizations and all the members and communities which we all represent. - A joint taskforce comprised of members from each organization will be set up between the two organizations to continue the discussions required to carry out our intended joint goal of one quadrennial event in 2018. We, the board of GLISA International recognize that this is an important step to ensure that the legacy of global LGBT Sports, Culture and Human Rights events continues to grow and reflect the desire of our international community. http://www.glisa.org
19 March 2010 Following a meeting of the Co-Presidents of the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA International) and the Federation of GayGames on 5 March, 2010, in Manchester, UK, to discuss the future of worldwide LGBT sport, culture and human rights events, the Board of GLISA International affirms that One Quadrennial Event in 2018 is our joint goal. Sports, Culture, and Human Rights will be essential components of the joint event in 2018, as they have been in the past. Preserving the legacy and
One Games: Statement FGG
We see a number of steps needed to move in this direction. The FGG’s priority is a successful Gay Games VIII, to which GLISA has been invited to participate. After Cologne, more discussions and collaboration are needed between the two organizations and the members and communities which we all represent. A joint working group will be set up between the two organizations to continue the discussions required to carry out our intended goal of one quadrennial event in 2018. We recognize that this is an important step to ensure that the legacy of global LGBT sports and culture continues to flourish. With regard to the above statement, FGG co-president Kurt Dahl (Chicago) expressed his gratitude to the Board of Directors of the FGG, who recognized the important progress accomplished in Manchester as part of the ongoing process of discussions held between the two organizations with input from our members and the wider community: “We have heard the calls for a single quadrennial event and sought to achieve this goal to better serve our mission of promoting equality. We look forward to the first step in this new chapter, with the presence of GLISA at Gay Games VIII, which has received the enthusiastic support from our host organization, Games Cologne.” http://www.gaygames.com
19 March 2010 Following a meeting of the Co-Presidents of the Federation of Gay Games and GLISA on 5 March 2010, in Manchester, UK, to discuss the future of worldwide LGBT sport and culture, the FGG Board affirms that one quadrennial event in 2018 is our goal. Sports, Culture, and Human Rights will be components of the 2018 event, as they have been in the past.
Germany’s Foreign Minister to Preside Gay Games Cologne 25 March 2010 Organizers of the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne have announced that Guido Westerwelle, Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of the Republic of Germany, will preside over the 2010 Gay Games Opening Ceremony on 31 July 2010 at
EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
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03/10: March 2010
RheinEnergie Stadium in Cologne. Dr. Westerwelle has also agreed to become an “official patron” of the 8th Gay Games. “We are so pleased to have found such a prominent advocate. With his commitment Dr. Guido Westerwelle sends an important signal for more tolerance and acceptance of gays and lesbians in our society,” said Annette Wachter, Chief Executive Officer of Games Cologne. Guido Westerwelle has been the Chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) since 2001, and previously was the party’s General Secretary. On 28 October 2009 German Chancellor Angela Merkel named him the country’s foreign minister and ViceChancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the first openly gay person to hold either office. He holds a law degree from Bonn University and has been an active member of the FDP since 1980. Dr. Westerwelle has been openly gay in his political life since he ascended to the chairmanship of the FDP in 2001. Between 31 July and 7 August Cologne will be the showplace for the world’s largest gay & lesbian event. 12,000 athletes and artists from 70 countries will take part in sports competitions and cultural exhibitions. More than 45,000 are expected at the Opening Ceremony at RheinEnergie Stadium, Cologne’s famous soccer stadium. The Gay Games are a sports and cultural event that take place every four years. Open to everyone regardless of age, ability, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, the 2010 Gay Games are the 8th of the quadrennial
games. The mission of the Gay Games is to dispel stereotypes and foster tolerance for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in an open, welcoming environment focused on healthy lifestyles.
indviduals. Furthermore, a clear stand has to be made, in order to prevent situations like the sex verification debacle that South African track star Caster Semenya was forced to undergo.
“The overwhelming acceptance of Dr. Westerwelle’s openness is an excellent example of the ability of people with different sexual orientations to live and work together,” said Wachter. “His support of Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010 is a significant contribution that should allow the participants to experience even greater acceptance throughout the competition and in their everyday lives.”
We invite you to read the petition, do additional research if necessary, and sign and support the initiative.
http://www.games-cologne.de
Intersex petition to IOC 30 March 2010 International Olympic Committee (IOC) is currently drafting a policy on intersex athletes, which plans on forcing intersex female athletes to “diagnose and treat their disorder”s in order to compete. The initiative, started by Hida Viloria, an intersex activist and writer, supported by the Organisation Intersex International (OII) now addresses the International Olympic Committee with a petition to combat the planned policy of IOC, and to shed some light on the subject matter. European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) supports the petition, and finds it necessary to clarify the stand on intersex athletes, with full respect to human rights and non-discrimination of
http://www.intersexualite.org/IOC-petition. html
Sports Events Coming up... Due to a major server upgrade we are currently not available to display updated events calendar. We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience.
Fotos: Page 1&2: Marc Naimark, Andrej Pisl
Contact Us European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) c/o NCS Meeuwenlaan 41 NL-1021 HS Amsterdam The Netherlands eglsf@eglsf.info www.eglsf.info EGLSF Newsletter (ISSN: 1876-1763) is published by the European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation. EGLSF is registered as a nonprofit sports organisation with the Chamber of Commerce in The Hague and enjoys participatory status with the Council of Europe.