The Gay Games is an important piece of new social history, examining one of the largest sporting, cultural and human rights events in the world. Since their inception in 1980, the Gay Games have developed into a multi-million dollar mega-event, engaging people from all continents, while the international Gay Games movement has become one of the largest and most significant international institutions for gay and lesbian people. Drawing on detailed archival research, oral history and participant observation techniques, and informed by critical feminist theory and queer theory, this book offers the first comprehensive history of the Gay Games from 1980 through to the Chicago games of 2006. It explores the significance of the Games in the context of broader currents of gay and lesbian history, and addresses a wide range of key contemporary themes within sports studies, including the cultural politics of sport, the politics of difference and identity, and the rise of sporting mega-events. This book is important reading for any serious student of international sport or gender and sexuality studies.

Contents

Introduction 1. Dancing with Tom Waddell 2. "We are Normal": "Challenge in 1982": Gay Games I 3. "We are Healthy": "Triumph in 1986": Gay Games II and the Procession of the Arts 4. Gay Games in Transition: "Celebration 90": Gay Games III and Cultural Festival 5. Going Global: The Internationalization of the Gay Games Movement 6. Big, Brash and Bold: "Unity 94": Gay Games IV and Cultural Festival 7: The Gay Way To Europe and the World: Gay Games V and Cultural Festival 8: "Under New Skies": Gay Games VI and Cultural Festival 9: "Transexed Conundrums" 10: Montreal – No – Chicago! Or Back To Basics: Chicago 2006 and the Split within the International GLBTI Sports Movement Conclusion

Author Bio

Caroline Symons in Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living at Victoria Universtralia.