Revisiting the first-ever Gay Games in San Francisco 1982
Every four years, LGBTQ+ athletes from all around the world come together to participate in the Gay Games, a tournament first established to promote the acceptance and inclusion of queer people in sport.
Since its inception, it has gone from strength to strength, with the 2023 edition making history by taking place in Asia for the first time, as Hong Kong shared hosting rights with Guadalajara in Mexico.The Games began as the Gay Olympics, with the organising committee founded on June 15, 1980, by activist Tom Waddell and his friends Mark Brown and Paul Mart.
Waddell himself competed as a decathlete in the 1968 Summer Olympics and he based much of his new endeavour on the model of the famous global sporting event.The name, however, didn’t last, as three weeks before its inaugural edition, a lawsuit filed by the International Olympic Committee forced a title change.
Thus, it was not the Gay Olympics but the Gay Games that made its debut in San Francisco in 1982.The Californian city was chosen as the host not only because it was Waddell’s home but also because the event had support from local government and essential services.
