04/08: April 2008
EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Internal affairs & Intl. sports organizations Stop homophobia May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia (IDHO). We hope you have celebrated it personally and within your organisation thus joining a large movement of LGBTIQ and straight organisations fighting against homophobia and providing educational and other services to eliminate homophobia.
Contents INTERNAL AFFAIRS & INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS NEWS SECTION SPORTS EVENTS COMING UP...
Board meeting in Copenhagen This issue of EGLSF newsletter encompasses a survey of the discussions and decisions taken at the board meeting in Copenhagen, 2nd-4th of May. We would like to thank our host club, Pan Idraet, for the nice organization of facilities etc. The board meeting was held in the rooms of DGI, one of the two national sport associations, of which Pan Idraet is a member. The board participated in the Networking day, organized by Outgames 2009, giving a short presentation on EGLSF to the other participants, among them ILGA Europe and ILGA World. Apart from that, the board members participated in the workshops on sports, women’s involvement, outreach, and the human rights conference 2009.
“Men are born equal but they are also born different.” Erich Fromm, psychologist & philosopher
Tanja Walther gave a presentation on FARE and EGLSF’s involvement in FARE, and we also met with IGLA representatives.
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Sport Many delegates of AGA 2008 found the session on sport and the opportunity for athletes from individual sports to meet and discuss important, and the board has decided that there should be organized a session on sports at AGA 2009. The involvement of LGBT sports associations would be important, hence the board will contact these associations and invite them to participate in AGA 2009. At the board meeting in Copenhagen, the board met with Lorraine Brown (Atlantic CoPresident) and Sean Fitzgerald (FGG delegate) from International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) to discuss future co-operation, and IGLA will be invited to AGA 2009. If you have any suggestions to and/or comments on sports sessions at AGA and the like, please contact Juha Meronen (juha@eglsf.info) or Lou Manders (lou@eglsf.info).
AGA 2009 and Future AGAs EGLSF was founded in the Hague in 1989, and next year we will celebrate our 20th anniversary at AGA 2009 in the Hague from March 5 to 8. The board is considering extending the AGA with ½-1 day, which quite a few delegates at AGA 2008 suggested. We will let you know about the actual start date of AGA 2009 no later than 6 months before AGA 2009. The board has decided to prepare a bid book for future AGA organizers. If you have any input to this, please contact Gisela Weil (gisela@eglsf.info) or Pepe García-Vázquez (pepe@eglsf.info).
Committees According to the motion on committees passed at AGA 2008 in Rome, the board decided to lay down the Outreach Committee. Neither the clubs that took the initiative to the committee at AGA 2007 in Madrid, nor the clubs that joined the
committee – except for one - have taken any steps to carry out any tasks for the committee – be it of lack of resources or of other reasons. Bas Koppers from Homosport Netherlands has joined the Structural and Strategic Committee, and Ole Udsholt, Pan Idraet, DK is the chair of the committee, which will continue its work, inter alia on the basis of the input from the delegates at AGA 2008.
Advocacy work Ben Baks and Tanja Walthers for the Advocacy Committee participated in the board meeting, reporting on their work and offering proposals for the future advocacy work. In the June newsletter, we will write more on these issues.
Outreach Taking the input from the session of the future of EGLSF at AGA 2008 into account, the board decided to put its effort into working out a diversity platform for AGA 2009. The current geographical emphasis of outreach should be abandoned in favour of focusing on specific fields and groups, e.g. youth and ethnic minorities, as to financial support as well. The platform should
set up proposals for active involvement of member clubs, e.g. sharing good practices and using tournaments as a vehicle for practical co-operation. Furthermore, the goals and aims of our diversity platform should be in accordance with EGLSF’s motto “Fair Play, Safety, and Tolerance in Sport for Everyone”. Please send your input to Anne Jensen (anne@eglsf.info) or Gabriella Körmendi (gabriella@eglsf.info).
Communication and promotion The board discussed requirements for an advanced communication system, which would be able to administer membership, direct communications to the members’ members, and other types of communication. Further analyses and planning will take place, and we would like to know if any members know about free or discounted CRS systems’ realizations. Please contact Andrej Pisl (andrej@eglsf. info) or Lou Manders (lou@eglsf.info). As to promotion, the board decided to aim at feature articles about sport and ELGSF in larger LGBT media and made a plan for promoting EGLSF at EuroGames 2008. Moreover, the board requests all member clubs to put the EGLSF logo on their websites and in PR-materials
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
for tournaments etc. If needed, the board may offer you a condensed text on EGLSF. Apart from that, all members are very welcome to use the PowerPoint presentation, the board uses for informing about EGLSF (all can be downloaded at www.eglsf.info).
EuroGames EuroGames 2008 The board strongly encourages you to register and complete the payment for EuroGames 2008. As you may read on their website, athletes, supporters and volunteers will receive a significant discount on public transportation. The board congratulates the organizers with reaching an agreement with The Barça Foundation – the big Barcelona football club. According to this agreement, Barça will promote EuroGames 2008 on their website, take part into EuroGames and participate in the human rights conference in Barcelona. For details, see http://2008. eurogames.info EuroGames 2011 The board decided that the EuroGames in 2011 may be a big EuroGames, and we encourage all member clubs to consider bidding for EuroGames 2011. The deadline for handing in your bid is the 1st of November 2008, and it has to be sent to Lou Manders, who will also send you the bidding book: lou@eglsf.info.
Outgames 2009 The registration for OutGames 2009 has started, and as you will see on the website, there is an outreach program. EGLSF will assist in selection of European applicants along the guidelines set up by the Outgames organizers, who will make the final decision as to who will receive outreach support. The board encourages our members who need support to apply for outreach in time. http://www.copenhagen2009.org
Call for help Do you want to support EGLSF board in supporting the members of EGLSF? We need help preparing our newsletter in terms of gathering information and setting up the layout. If you can spend 3 hours a month on such tasks, please contact Andrej Pisl: andrej@eglsf.info. If you have any other specific skills in the field of IT, programming, PR, funding, etc, and would be willing to contribute, please contact us as well! And if you would like to donate to EGLSF, here are the details for donations: Beneficiary European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation, c/o NCS Meeuwenlaan 41, Amsterdam, The Netherlands IBAN: NL72 PSTB 0000 7680 40 Bank details Postbank Zakelijk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands BIC/SWIFT: PSTBNL21
News Section
News submitted by our members Football is everything... - Initiative against discrimination 5 May 2008 With the EGLSF campaign “Football is everything…” evenings against discrimination in football were created. The campaign is supported by FARE
and UEFA and will be travelling through Europe (the Kick off was in October 2007 in Berlin supported by the German Football Federation and German Football League) and will have the same format in every city: keynote speeches; panel discussion; signing of the declaration against discrimination. The anti-discrimination campaign will use football as a medium for sending out a unified message against all forms of discrimination. With this new campaign EGLSF has an international tool to combat and educate against all forms of discrimination especially homophobia by creating a strong public image. The second evening against homophobia in football will be in Cologne on May 23, 2008. EGLSF in cooperation with the Come-Together-Cup will host the event. The President of the German Football Federation will be there to support this evening. The Invitation for the event did go to all professional football clubs. More info about the outcome of the evening will be available in the next EGLSF newsletter.
International Day Against Homophobia 17 May 2008 Although the term ‘homophobia’ was coined in 1972 by George Weinberg, meaning the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality, the fear and ignorance are unfortunately much older, and are still present nowadays. The International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), held on May 17 every year, is a rallying event offering an opportunity for people to get together and reach out to one another. May 17th is symbolic due to its significance in the improvement of the status of gays and lesbians. IDAHO proposed this date for annually holding a day set aside to fight
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
homophobia. In removing homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses on May 17, 1991, the World Health Organisation (WHO) put an end to over a century of homophobia in the medical field. May 17, a day-by-day campaign is a slogan reminding us that the fight against homophobia should also be an everyday effort. European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) is continuously working towards Fair Play, Tolerance & Safety in Sports for Everyone - which is also our slogan. EGLSF, together with our member clubs, welcomes the initiative of IDAHO, and joins the organisations world-wide in combating homophobia in all fields, especially in the field of sports. For more information about actions around the world, and close to you, please visit http://www.homophobiaday.org http://www.idahomophobia.org
Jeff Kagan - Gay Athlete of the Year 19 May 2008 LGBT sports magazine Sports Out Loud has announced the Gay Athlete of the Year, according to the votes of their readers and website visitors. The prestigious title goes to the 39-year old Jeff Kagan. Kagan is the founder of the New York City Gay Hockey Association, he also helped in establishing the New York City Gay Basketball League and is a co-founder of Out of Bounds NYC, a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting and developing sports within GLBT community in New York. For more information, see the latest issue of Sports Out Loud, or read the cover story online. http://www.sportsoutloud.com
Sports Events Coming up...
Events submitted by our members
Volleyball
Löwen Cup - lions cup Braunschweig, Germany 30 May – 1 Jun 2008 http://www.sls-bs.de volleyball@sls-bs.de
Badminton
2008 Cologne International Gay and Lesbian Tournament Cologne, Germany 30 May – 1 Jun 2008 SINGLES and DOUBLES A/B+/B-/C http://www.domfedern.de mail@domfedern.de
Multisports
Lady Piadina Rimini, Italy 30 May – 2 Jun 2008 http://www.riminipiadina.com team@riminipiadina.com
Running
Regiorun for life 2008 Aachen, Germany 31 May – 31 May 2008 http://www.regiorun.eu rainbow-sports-aachen@gmx.de
Badminton
Festibad 7 Strasbourg, France 7 Jun – 8 Jun 2008 http://www.festigays.net festibad7@yahoo.fr
Multisports
IGLA 2008 Washington DC, USA 18 Jun – 22 Jun 2008 http://www.igla2008.org igla2008@gmail.com
Tennis
Madrid Tennis Open 2008 Madrid, Spain 20 Jun – 22 Jun 2008 Hola amigos, Here we are ready for you to enjoy one more year our most international tournament, the Madrid Tennis Open 2008, that will take place between June 20nd – 22th at the Casa de Campo tennis courts; this championship is ruled by the G.L.T.A and will be played by both men and women in 5 divisions, Open, A, B, C and D singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Two times a best tournament nominee, the Madrid Tennis Open is one experience not to be missed. http://www.madpoint.org madpoint@madpoint.org
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Bowling
Beach Volleyball
LGBT: Ljubljana Gay Bowling Tournament
Gay-Day-Beach
Ljubljana, Slovenia 22 Jun – 22 Jun 2008 The tournament is for lesbians and gays, bisexuals and transgenders, recreational and professional sportsmen and sportswomen and also those who haven’t yet held the bowling ball. The tournament, which takes place a day after the Ljubljana Pride, is of an open type which means that both professional and amateur bowlers can participate.
Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands 12 Jul – 12 Jul 2008 http://www.rozeblok.nl/beachvolley/ beachvolley@rozeblok.nl
Multisports
EuroGames 2008 Barcelona, Spain 24 Jul – 28 Jul 2008
http://www.dih.si/bowling/ info@outinslovenija.com
Summer & sun: the perfect combination for beach volleyball. From August 15 to 17, 2008, Aufschlag Vienna organises its summer beach volleyball tournament for the 8th time. Matches will be played on Saturday (Aug 16). The Vienna Beach Trophy has become the biggest gay & lesbian tournament in Europe played by beach rules. A team is two persons. Play will be on up to twelve beach volleyball courts at the Alte Donau lake. If you need to cool down after a challenging play, you can just take a dip into the water. http://www.aufschlag.org vbt2008@aufschlag.org
Tennis
Badminton
Zurich Rainbow Open 2008
International Badminton Tournament Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland 15 Aug – 17 Aug 2008
Zurich, Switzerland 27 Jun – 29 Jun 2008
10th International Badminton Tournament Zürich. Between the 27th of June and 29th of June the 10th Gay and Lesbian Badminton Tournament will be held in Zürich. Friday Registration, Saturday Single and Double Games in all categories (A, B1, B-, C+, C-), Saturday Evening Barbecue and Party, Sunday morning Brunch and award ceremony. http://www.gaysport.ch swisstour08.info@gmx.ch
Multisports
Rainbow Rampage Brighton, United Kingdom 28 Jun – 4 Jul 2008 http://www.rainbowrampage.com guy@rainbowrampage.com
Join us at the largest multi-sport LGBT event in Europe - the EuroGames. In 2008 we celebrate the 12th EuroGames in Barcelona, Spain. There are 28 sport disciplines to choose from. Come south! Play with us! http://2008.eurogames.info info@2008.eurogames.info
Running
http://www.rainbowopen.ch info@rainbowopen.ch
Badminton
Goslings’ 10th London Badminton Tournament London, United Kingdom 22 Aug – 25 Aug 2008
10th Amsterdam Pride Run Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1 Aug – 1 Aug 2008 http://www.dgla.nl zijwind@tiscali.nl
Beach Volleyball
Vienna Beach Trophy ‘08 Vienna, Austria 15 Aug – 17 Aug 2008
The Goslings Sports Club invites all badminton players to take part in our London badminton tournament during the weekend Friday 22nd - Monday 25th August, 2008. The tournament is open to men and women, singles, doubles, and mixed-doubles, at levels A, B+, B-, C+, and C- [numbers permitting]. http://www.goslingssportsclub.com/ tournament/ admin@goslingssportsclub.com
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Football/Soccer
London, United Kingdom 24 Aug – 30 Aug 2008
swimmers and water polo players. Now it is your turn to experience this magical city by the river Danube! Could not go to the Eurogames? Want to meet your swimmer friends again? Let’s spend the last week of the summer together!
http://www.londonwc2008.co.uk chair@londonwc2008.co.uk
http://www.atlaszsport.hu/bpsplash/ uszas@atlaszsport.hu
IGLFA World Championship 2008
This year will be the 10th edition which means lots of news and exciting surprises for our players! http://www.atomoitalia.org info@atomoitalia.org
Multisports
Pride Games 2008 Beach Volleyball
Volleyball
Varna Tangra Open 2008
Mamma Mia 2008
Varna, Bulgaria 29 Aug – 31 Aug 2008
Milan, Italy 5 Sep – 7 Sep 2008
The tournament will have competitions in beach volleyball (2-2), levels B and C for men and women. Participation fee for the tournament will be EUR 25.00; Included within the registration fee are: accreditation with card/map, 2 coupons each good like 3.00 BGN - those can be used for a refreshment drinks in the beach bar, entrance for the Medal Celebration Party on Saturday at Alexander Mixclub, common Breakfast on Sunday. We organize a common “tournament-hotel” where we will stay together: our friends/ participants/tangra-members. http://www.tangra-sport.org/tournaments/ varna2008/ info@tangra-sport.org
Swimming
Budapest Splash Budapest, Hungary 30 Aug – 30 Aug 2008
Hungary has always been famous for its
Gate Volley Milan is happy to invite all volleyball players to take part in Mamma Mia 2008 which will take place on September 5th-7th 2008. Four levels of game (A, B+, B-, C), a fantastic Saturday Night Party, and a Yummy-Tummy Brunch on Sunday will be the best ingredients of our special recipe for the Best Italian Volleyball Tournament.
Manchester, United Kingdom 7 Sep – 14 Sep 2008 http://www.pridegames.org info@pridegames.org
Multisports
Brussels Games Brussels, Belgium 12 Sep – 14 Sep 2008
http://www.eurogaycup.org info@eurogaycup.org
For the 17th time in a row, Brussels Gay Sports is organising the Brussels Games, our international tournament which will take place from 12th to 14th September 2008. As usual you can come and show off your sporting skills in the Capital of Europe... Like every year, there will be a lovely opportunity to cool down in the swimming pool at the end of the competition. And of course there will be our traditional Party and Show, something which always makes our tournament a very special event. We will then wind down with a brunch on Sunday.
Tennis
http://www.bgs.org/brusselsgames/ brusselsgames@bgs.org
http://www.gatevolley.it info@gatevolley.it
Sailing
EuroGay Cup Regatta Brighton, United Kingdom 6 Sep – 7 Sep 2008
IGO: Italian Gay Open Milan, Italy 6 Sep – 9 Sep 2008
Volleyball
Cologne Open Cologne, Germany 19 Sep – 21 Sep 2008
The first Volleyball-Tournament from the
EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
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04/08: April 2008
Bouncing-Balls (SC Janus) from Cologne. B and C - levels. http://www.koeln-offen.de organisation@bouncing-balls.de
Volleyball
LIVE2008 London, United Kingdom 26 Sep – 28 Sep 2008 http://www.londonspikers.org livetournament@gmail.com
tournament will be EUR 35.00; For the registration fee you will get: * accreditation card * a snack with a free drink on registration day (October 24) * free entrance for the Medal Winner Party Celebration on Saturday (October 25) * brunch on Sunday (October 27), * foreigner-guests get private housing (optional, on request) * tickets for public transportation (only for foreign participants). http://tangra-sport.org/events.php?id_ event=63 info@tangra-sport.org
Golf
German-Rainbow-Open Vorbeck/Schwerin, Germany 4 Oct – 5 Oct 2008 http://www.german-rainbow-open.com info@german-rainbow-open.com
EGLSF Newsletter Multisports
Sofia-Tangra-Open 2008 Sofia, Bulgaria 24 Oct – 26 Oct 2008
If you woud like to contrubite to the EGLSF Newsletter, please use the online submission forms at www.gaysport.info. After review, your submissions will be posted online, and in the newsletter. Please note that we reserve the right to edit or not to publish your submissions. EGLSF members’ news and events have priority.
Changing The Clocks Backward, 4. International LGBT Multisport Tournament. Participation fee for the
Photos: Page 1 & 2: Andrej Pisl Others: Public non-copyrighted
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.