06/09: June 2009
EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
Recaps & Invites Stonewall turns 40 End of June is marked by the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots which lead into the world-wide spread of gay pride parades. EGLSF and its members are proud to be a voice of LGBTIQ amateur and professional athletes in Europe. We congratulate and thank all our member clubs and individuals, especially our Advocacy Committee, who stand up and speak for themselves and others.
Contents RECAPS & INVITES NEWS SECTION SPORTS EVENTS COMING UP...
PRIDE GAMES 2009 May 31 - June 7, 2009 Pride Games 2009 kicked off in the blazing sunshine with a fun day for all in Alexandra Park, billed as the opening festival and centred around the ever popular Alex Park 5k community run and included community relay fundraiser (teams of 3 people), school sports day games, skills zone, side stalls, refreshments and quite a bit of sunbathing! This year’s chosen beneficiary was ‘Positively Healthy’, a valued activity programme free for HIV+ people. Following a hot and very active day in the park, participants headed off to an opening soiree where a charity fundraising raffle raised £ 200 for the Booth Hall Children’s Hospital and Positively Healthy. A new edition to the Pride Games included the much requested Women’s Netball.
“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol, American artist
Another new feature this year was a free, friendly, fun swim gala, held in a relaxing environment with all the trimmings and
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
lots of floating toys on hand to play and relax with. Pride Sports Open Golf Championship was all set to take place but the course had to be closed because of rain. The good news is, this event was only postponed and will be restaged during the August Bank Holiday weekend. Returning for the second year was Archery & Orienteering in the beautiful surroundings of Sale Water Park. Thursday saw a city walk for the over 50s. A nice easy going friendly group of people from ‘Out in The City’ welcomed newcomers for a gentle city walk passing places of interest along the way and finishing at Taurus for tea, coffee and a chat. Thursday also saw a special Basketball taster, hosted by the Slam Dunkin Divas, a new women’s basketball team and one which is set to compete in the World Outgames in Copenhagen -very adventurous for such a new team! As if that wasn’t enough, Thursday and Friday included a sailing programme for beginners and experienced sailors and included a level one training course with certification into the bargain. Friday saw a small but perfectly formed climbing competition at the Manchester Climbing Centre, which is a spectacle in its own right! Manchester FA ran this year’s five a-side football tournament for men and women at Salford Sport Village, a great facility with astaro-turf pitches and no mud! Run by Open Athletics, this year’s track and field events were held at the stylish Trafford Athletics Stadium. Javelin, hurdles, races and much more were run to a rapturous applause. At the same venue at the same time was the Pride Youth Games track and field events. The significance of this, is that as far as we know, this LGBT Pride Youth Games is the only event of its kind in the world and next year is being opened up to Europeans - something LGBT Youth North West are justifiably proud of!
Ballroom and Latin Dance Workshops were held for beginners and more experienced ballroom dancers. The official party was a very special club night, delivered by the Bollox Club. It has a broad appeal to straight, gay, men women etc all comers were welcomed and with free entry to registered Pride Games participants. The last events of the week all took place at the very beautiful Salford Quays. Beginning with a 10k road race and including participative line dancing and concluding with the infamous and very exciting Pride Games Bell Boat Regatta. Rival teams of ten came together and raced to win the Co-operative challenge Cup and there were some special cash prizes too.
The badminton tournament is already our 3rd international competition, and judging by the success of the previous two we know that there will be even more registrants at the Gyöngyösi sports hall. Since SPLASH is already a successful and popular event within the sport-loving LGBT community and their friends, a storm of mega-partying is added to the program at GLAM, the fabulous new party venue. The usual sightseeing, the tasting tour of restaurants with original Hungarian cooking and last but not least the farewell brunch at a wonderful castle cannot be missed, either.
After what has been a very action packed week and with over 30 events and just over 1,100 people taking part over seven days, those left with any stamina attended the closing soiree. Pride Games returns 6th to 13th June 2010. www.pridegames.org
SPLASH Budapest 2009 August 21-23, 2009 FRIGO and ATLASZ pool their resources again this year to organize the successful SPLASH sport competition and leisure program series. The main players are swimming and badminton, the fans of these two sports and those who just want to familiarize themselves with these activities. Enjoyment is guaranteed, as is unclouded leisure and outdoor relaxation. To tickle your fancy, we have to mention that the swimming program will be held in the modern section of the historic Margaret Island pool, completed for the European championship. The competition is overseen by the Hungarian Swimming Association.
SPLASH with us in the heat, do sports and relax! As last year, competitors and spectators arriving from EGLSF member clubs get a discount at this year’s tournament, too. Outreach is one of our main priorities: competitors arriving from “less developed” EU countries and beyond get special discounts. SPLASH – an experience in the water and under the net www.atlaszsport.hu/bpsplash/
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
World Appeal against Transphobia Each year, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on May 17, sees actions and initiatives take place in many countries and contexts and on many different issues. This year, the often neglected but important issue of Transphobia was highlighted. European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) is proud to have signed the Appeal rejecting transphobia and respecting gender identity. Please find the call to support the petition below, read the appeal and SIGN it online.
Every day, almost everywhere around the world, Transexual, Transgender, Intersex people face violence, abuse, rape, torture and hate crimes. The only motive: they are not conforming to social stereotypes about the way they should appear and behave in society as men or women. Be it out of ignorance, prejudice, fear or hate, Trans people overwhelmingly face daily discrimination, which results in social exclusion, poverty and poor health care, with little prospects for employment. Far from protecting Trans citizens, States and International bodies reinforce social transphobia through short sighted negligence or reactionary politics: To
have their preferred gender identity recognised by society, if at all possible, they have to undergo forced sterilization or other major surgery. Yet, States do little to ensure Trans people get proper access to the health care they want or need. Adding insult to injustice, the World Health Organisation still classifies them as mentally disordered. On May 17th 1990 (almost 20 years ago !,) the same World Health Organisation took homosexuality off the list of mental disorders. This is the reason why May 17th was chosen to celebrate the International Day against homophobia and transphobia, the IDAHO. Actions now take place every year in more than 50 countries. On this symbolic day, a group of organisations working to promote fundamental Human Rights for lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual, intersex and bisexual people launches an International Appeal to the WHO to take transsexualism off the list of mental disorders. The appeal also calls for all States to enforce legislation that ensures respect for Trans people’s Human Rights, and calls for the UN Human Rights bodies to effectively address the situation. This Appeal has already been signed by more than 300 organisations in more than 75 countries accross all world regions, from Fiji to Kyrgyzstan, China to the USA, Serbia to Brasil. Major international institutions have expressed their support, such as UNAIDS, the International and European Trade Union Confederations, the International Gay and Lesbian Law Association, the Gay and lesbian Intergroupe of the European Parliament, the Global Justice Ministry of Metropolitan Community Churches or...the Sydney Mardi Gras. So have political parties such as the French socialist, communist and green parties or the Meretz Party in Israel. And we are proud of the support of three Nobel Prize Laureats: Elfriede Jelinek,
Françoise Barré-Finoussi and Luc Montagnier., and of other people who have signed the text like Doudou Diène, former rapporteur special in the UN on racism (Senegal), Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission, Gérard Onesta, vicepresident of the European Parliament, Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris, several ministers or former ministers, and many members of Parliament around the world. We now invite all citizens, activists, organisations, political parties, local authorities and all other concerned groups or individuals to join this appeal by signing the petition online where you will also find the complete up-to-date list of signatures. www.idahomophobia.org
News Section
News submitted by our members Gay Games Scholarship Program 16 June 2009 Bringing new participants to the Gay Games is critical to continuing the growth of the Gay Games Movement, which began in 1982. Through the outreach efforts of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) and Games Cologne GmbH, more people within and outside the LGBT community can learn about and are inspired to participate in a Gay Games event. The outreach area for Games Cologne GmbH is Eastern Europe and applications are now being accepted for
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
the scholarship program. Scholarships will be available for one or more of the following: Basic event registration fees (participatory athletic and cultural events); Travel costs to and from Cologne, Germany; Accommodations; Daily allowance for the Games period (31 July to 7 August 2010) Although the Gay Games Scholarship Program will attempt to accommodate as many people as possible, it is not possible to accommodate everyone with regard to special needs, variation in demographic traits, and financial need. This is particularly the case with assisting Gay Games Scholarship Program applicants with the application process for a German visa. The deadline for submission of this application is August 1, 2009; applications received after August 1st. will be considered if scholarships are available. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age on July 31, 2010. http://www.games-cologne.de/en/ scholarship
Turkish referee discharged for being gay 18 June 2009 The European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) today expressed grave concerns over reports by Kick It Out last month that a Turkish referee has been forced to step down after his homosexuality was revealed through a medical report. Halil İbrahim Dinēdağ was forced to leave his job because he had been excused from his compulsory military service on account of his homosexuality, which was then documented. According to the sport’s regulations, anyone who fails to complete his military service for health reasons is unfit to perform as a referee. Pepe Garcia Vazquez, Male Co-
president of the EGLSF, an organisation representing over 17,000 LGBT athletes, sports organisers and officials across Europe says of the incident: “We are appalled by the decision of the Turkish FA in relation to Mr Dinēdağ and call upon UEFA to support his appeal against this blatant act of discrimination. The EGLSF firmly believes that sports such as football, which have a high visibility across Europe, should be at the forefront of Human Rights and Equalities campaigning, not perpetuating stereotypes about the fitness of gay men to participate or officiate in the game. We wholeheartedly support Mr Dinēdağ’s call for others who are being discriminated against to stand tall and we will encourage our members to do the same.”
For the 3rd time Gay Sport Nijmegen organizes their big Pink Tournament. Special about this edition is that for the swimmers it will be the NK GAY 2009 (Dutch Gay Championship). Also for squash this day the tournament will be part of the national gay competition. And of course, no tournament without a big party. So we hope to see you all back in Nijmegen on July 3th, 2009. Registration starts on March 10th, 2009 For more information, check the website regularly and sign up for the newsletter.
http://www.kickitout.org/news.php/news_ id/4358
http://www.gaysportnijmegen.nl info@gaysportnijmegen.nl
Mondiali Antirrazzisti
Sports Events Coming up...
Events submitted by our members
Bologna, Italy 8 Jul – 12 Jul 2009
The “Mondiali Antirrazzisti” (World Cup Against Racism) will take place in July. This year the event is dedicated to fight sexism and homophobia. EGLSF intends to participate actively and all EGLSF members with football teams (plus basket and volley) are encouraged to participate. http://www.mondialiantirazzisti.org info@mondialiantirazzisti.org
Swimming Multisports
Pink Tournament Nijmegen, The Netherlands 3 Jul – 5 Jul 2009
Swimming across the Lake of Zürich Zürich, Switzerland 18 Jul – 18 Jul 2009
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EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
The gay and lesbian Zürich’s “Seeüberquerung”. Keeping up with our tradition in the past few years, we would like to invite all of you to swim across the lake of Zürich (about 1800m). http://www.gaysport.ch netond@yahoo.com.br
Multisport
World Outgames Copenhagen, Denmark 25 Jul – 2 Aug 2009
Come home to Hungary at the end of the summer 2009 for the first multisport LGBTQ tournament in Budapest. http://www.atlaszsport.hu/bpsplash info@atlaszsport.hu
Beach Volleyball
Vienna Beach Trophy Vienna, Austria 21 Aug – 23 Aug 2009 http://www.aufschlag.org vbt2009@aufschlag.org
A.T.OMO Milano is glad to invite You to the 11th edition of ITALIAN GAY OPEN, the funniest GLBT tennis tournament in Italy. It will take place in Milan on the venues of Tennis Club Corvetto, on semi-indoors red clay courts, according to GLTA and FIT (Italian Tennis Federation) rules. It will include the following divisions: Open : highly advanced tournament players; A : advanced tournament players; B : high intermediate tournament players; C : low intermediate and beginning tournament players D : beginning players with little tournament experience. http://www.atomoitalia.org info@atomoitalia.org
Volleyball
Cologne Open II. Cologne, Germany 28 Aug – 30 Aug 2009
Football/Soccer
Wild Cup 2009 Karlsruhe, Germany 4 Sep – 6 Sep 2009 http://www.wildboys-karlsruhe.de maik@wildboys-karlsruhe.de
World Outgames is an international event for the body, the mind, and the spirit. We celebrate the talents and contributions of homosexual, bi-sexual and transgender men and women from every corner of the globe. World Outgames will be held from 25 July - 2 August 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. http://www.copenhagen2009.org info@copenhagen2009.org
Multisports
Budapest Splash 2009 Homecoming Budapest, Hungary 21 Aug – 23 Aug 2009
Volleyball
Mamma Mia 2009 Volleyball Tournament (Men, Level B & C) http://www.koeln-offen.de organisation@koeln-offen.de Tennis
I.G.O. 2009 Milan, Italy 3 Sep – 6 Sep 2009
Milan, Italy 4 Sep – 6 Sep 2009 7th edition of the international volleyball tournament hosted by GateVolley team in Milan. The competition will be the 4th September with a welcome/registration gathering on 4th sept and a farewell brunch on 6th sept. There are 4 levels of competition (A, B+, B-, C). The organisers reserve the right to change the level as appropriate. Limited hosted accommodation will be available on a first come first serve basis. http://www.gatevolley.it info@gatevolley.it
EGLSF Newsletter: News & Information from European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation
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06/09: June 2009
Multisports
Volleyball
Brussels Games
VII Barcelona Volleyball Tournament
Brussels, Belgium 11 Sep – 13 Sep 2009
Barcelona, Spain 11 Sep – 13 Sep 2009
FOTOS: Page 1: Joseph Ambrosini, New York Daily News Diana Davies, New York Public Library Paul Jones, Pride Sports Others: Public, non-copyrighted
Volleyball tournament . Levels B+ B- and C. 24 teams Men and 16 teams Women. http://www.panteresgrogues.org/v09/ volei.masculi@panteresgrogues.cat
For the 18th time in a row, Brussels Gay Sports is organizing the Brussels Games, our international tournament which will take place from 11th to 13th September 2009. As usual you can come and show off your sporting skills in the Capital of Europe... Our tournament includes Badminton, Fitness/body, Tennis and Volleyball. 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.
Bowlingl
SC AufRuhr Bowling Tournament Metropole Ruhr, Germany 12 Sep – 12 Sep 2009
http://www.bgs.org/brusselsgames brusselsgames@bgs.org
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.