|
||||||
|
FGG Annual Meeting—20 to 25 October 2008, Cape Town, South Africa For complete details, see www.gaygames.com/am2008 The Federation of Gay Games will be returning to the Southern Hemisphere for its 2008 Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held in Cape Town and is being organised by TOGS, the national LGBT sports organisation of South Africa. It will feature two days of board meetings, one day for committee meetings, and three days of meetings of the General Assembly. The meeting’s keynote address is entitled "South African Constitutional Achievements and the challenges for the LGBT community" and will focus on our reasons to be proud and the continuing shadow of lesbophobic violence and African homophobia that must continue to be eradicated. There will also be a plenary session on Gender Parity, with a panel discussion. Panel members will include Leigh Ann Naidoo a Gay Games Ambassador and a beach volleyball Olympian who is involved in community mentoring for black lesbian athletes; also Jennifer Lemon and Mary Hames, both noted South African academics in gender studies. There will also be workshops on:
Federation of Gay Games Officers and Member Organisations will be attending. Other groups that will be attending include, Gay & Lesbian Network, Johannesburg, South Africa, OUT LGBT Well-being, Pretoria, South Africa, a group from Bloemfontein, South Africa, and two groups from Uganda. The Annual Meeting will conclude with a Community Day Activity that will support the African sports and cultural movement by forming an FGG team to play one of the local black lesbian softball teams. The week will end with a South African-style barbecue with the local LGBTI community.
Photos courtesy of TrekEarth |
||||||
FGG Seeks Job Applicants for a Development & Communications Director For complete details, see http://www.gaygames.com/en/federation/employment.htm There is an immediate opening for an exciting new job: the Development and Communications Director for the Federation of Gay Games. Applicants must respond by 1 September 2008. Please read on for all the details of this position. Summary of Responsibilities: The Development and Communications Director (contract position) is responsible for development activities related to fundraising events targeted at individual donors, foundations, and corporations, including coordination of communications through e-newsletters. Working with the Development Committee, the Director coordinates and participates in all activities in these areas and in sustaining and building an annual development program. Responsibilities:
Qualifications:
Skills Required:
This is a full-time contract position for one year and may be located anywhere in the United States. This position may lead to full-time employment with the FGG after the initial year. Please send your cover letter and resume to Search Committee by e-mail to treasurer@gaygames.org by 1 September 2008.
|
||||||
|
Pride Track & Field Meets Raises the Bar!
More than 100 athletes competed in this year's event. The make-up of the group was around 60% LGBT, down from around 80% at the inaugural event in 2007. Since the event took place the same weekend as the Barcelona Eurogames, that meant that a number of LGBT track & field athletes were unavailable to come to San Francisco.
"We wanted to bring the T&F community together much more often than is now the case. We've also brought the straight Masters community together too… This is an added bonus for us. As with Gay Games events, the meet was officially sanctioned so we could send a message to our participants that we encouraged and expected record-setting results. Furthermore, that everyone's efforts on the track and in the field were equally valued. That's why we undertook the effort to secure official sanctioning from USA Track & Field."
More than just a spokesman for the event, Bundy was very busy on the track, too. He competed in five events (4X100 relay, 110 hurdles, 400 hurdles, high jump, and triple jump) and earned gold medals in all of them. Of that he is rightly proud. Looking forward to the 2010 Cologne Gay Games, Bundy pointed out that "Rick Thoman, member of the SF Track & Field team since its 1982 founding, has been serving as a track & field advisor to Cologne. We want to use our knowledge from the Pride Track & Field Meet to help out the organisers in Cologne to make the track and field events at GGVIII as successful as possible." NOTE: The Pride Track & Field Meet was also covered by the Bay Area Reporter newspaper. Below is the article that appeared in their 31 July edition. Copyright © 2008 Bay Area Reporter Reprinted with permission Odds and ends Organisers of the second annual Pride Track & Field Meet could not have asked for nicer weather Saturday, July 26. Warm, but not too warm, not too breezy, and smiles seemingly on everyone's faces no matter in what place they finished. "I love this meet," said decathlete Dimitry Yakoushkin, a 31-year-old mechanical engineer from San Francisco. "Everyone's helping each other out. It's very friendly, a lot friendlier than some meets." Of course, Yakoushkin had particular reason to smile after breezing through the 110-meter hurdles in 17.36 seconds for the event's fastest overall time. He was followed by meet organisers Drew Monaghan (18.30) and Andrew Bundy (20.19) of host San Francisco Track & Field Club, and Ben Hall, 46, of Indianapolis (23.17). Yakoushkin celebrated on the victory stand with his 5-year-old son, Devin. "He's going to be a track star," Yakoushkin said. "He's already out there running." Yakoushkin said he runs hurdles because they are part of the decathlon, but he does not train for them. "I train for the runs and the throws, but nothing specifically for the hurdles," he said. "I like the hurdles. They force you to be a good runner. You have to run fast between the hurdles." More than 100 athletes competed in this year's event. The athletic high point of the day came in the high jump, where Bruce McBarnette, 50, set an American age-group record of 1.9 meters. That bested his 1.87-meter jump last year when he competed in a younger age group. Results are available at www.pridemeet.org. |
||||||
|
Historic Meeting of Cultural Organisations in Miami During mid-July, a historic meeting took place in Miami Florida during the quadrennial GALA Choruses Festival 2008, subtitled “5,000 Voices Creating Harmony.” Just a few weeks before this enormous event, GALA Choruses had voted to rejoin the Federation of Gay Games, after an absence of more than ten years. To show support for the FGG’s second cultural member organisation, a number of key individuals went to Miami to conduct meetings to discuss common issues of interest. The FGG was represented by its Cultural Officer Ann Simonson of Chicago (Ann is also Co-Chair of the FGG Cultural Committee). The other FGG Cultural Member Organisation, the Lesbian and Gay Band Association (LGBA) was represented by its President (Lisa D’Amore of Cincinnati, Ohio, also Co-Chair of the FGG Cultural Committee) and Vice-President (Zach Parker of Washington, D.C.). Traveling to these meetings all the way from Germany was Steve Nobles, representing Games Cologne’s Cultural staff. Finally, taking time out from their busy responsibilities at the Festival 2008 were Robin Godfrey (GALA General Manager), Sonelius Kendrick-Smith (President of the GALA Choruses Board of Directors), and Dr. Kathleen McGuire (San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus Artistic Director and Conductor). Said Steve Nobles, “The GALA festival was positively overwhelming. I spent a lot of the week in tears, moved by the outstanding musicality and sheer magnitude of it all. We had productive meetings with both GALA and LGBA officials and collectively signaled our willingness to collaborate more closely in the months leading up to the 2010 Cologne Gay Games.” Nobles continued, “We hope that many GALA singers will want to be part of the Cologne Gay Games, and will be doing our best to make it an exciting and enjoyable experience for all participants in its Cultural Festival.” Representing the FGG’s Board of Directors, Ann Simonson said "This meeting was an historical moment for the Gay Games and FGG. This was the confirmation that GALA Choruses was back on board in full support of the Gay Games and the FGG. Also it was the first time that LGBA and GALA met to discuss their experiences with past Gay Games and their vision for the future of their involvement of FGG and Games Cologne!" Speaking on behalf of long-standing member organisation LGBA, its President Lisa D’Amore said “I was energized as we discussed the possibilities for Cologne. Lessons learned were spoken and heard and only added to the excitement about 2010. The people involved are wonderfully talented and intelligent and I have more confidence than ever in our ability to exceed expectations at Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010.” Learn more about GALA at http://www.galachoruses.org/index.html
|
||||||
The biggest sports and cultural festival in the world will take place in Cologne from July 31 to August 7, 2010. Some 12,000 participants from more than 70 countries will converge for the Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010 and celebrate the principles of participation, inclusion and personal best. 708 days, 15 hours, 42 minutes until opening ceremony We look forward to seeing you all in Cologne at GGVIII in 2010. BE PART OF IT! Be Part of It! |
||||||
 Send us your stories and pictures! We would love to share a profile of one of your heroes. |
||||||
|
Know Someone Who Wants To Participate? |
||||||
.JPG)
The second annual Pride Track & Field Meet, hosted by FGG General Assembly Member Organisation San Francisco Track & Field Club, took place on 26 July at the campus of San Francisco State University. The historic Cox Stadium held the 23 sanctioned events under perfectly clear skies. This venue was the same as the Track & Field competitions of the first two Gay Games, in 1982 and 1986. Overall, it was a wonderful day of camaraderie, competition, and community, all under the watchful eye of USA Track & Field officials..JPG)
The long-term goal of the meet organisers is to develop an event like the IGLA Championships or the Gay Softball World Series. Such an event would bring the Track & Field community together more often, there by attracting and stimulating more participation. The Pride Track & Field Meet might eventually evolve into an umbrella international Track & Field organisation, stated Meet Vice President Andrew Bundy, who also serves as the President of San Francisco Track & Field Club, Bundy recalls his feelings following the Chicago Gay Games..JPG)
Finding the "sweet spot" in the overall Track & Field schedule was critical for attracting the largest number of athletes. In 2008, this meant getting to know the organisers of other meets and scheduling the Pride event between the US Olympic Trials and the US Masters Track & Field Meet in Spokane, Washington. According to Bundy, "Feedback was very positive, and there will likely be a Pride event in 2009. It will need to be scheduled around other events, including the World Masters Games in Sydney Australia (mid-October, 2009). Our host committee is about to meet and start discussing the 2009 event."
