Known as one of the largest sport and culture events open to all “from their modest beginnings in a San Francisco football stadium, the Gay Games have grown into an international sporting spectacle and business enterprise( Lenskyj, 2002, p 24) ., the Gay games provide an alternative from the modern day Olympics, for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer athletes (LGBTQ). These games provide a significant and supportive environment without concern for homosexual prejudice and or discrimination. This making the Gay games an opportunity for athletes, coaches, consumers an opportunity to partake in the shift for social equality in society. This paper is not meant to criticize the Olympics and or the International Olympic Committee, rather
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In a follow up survey in 2007, the percentage of individuals polled jumped from the low thirties to approximately 60% agreeing that homosexual relations should be legal. Just like women have been “demanding the right to fully participate in the Olympics (Carpentier, 2006, p.1112),” LGBTQ athletes strived for the same opportunity to compete and have equality. Waitt explains that the Gay Games validate how sports’ bodies and performances are customary within historically and rooted in the means of discourse. By going forth and creating these games, Waddell sparked social change, and acceptance that continues today. The Gay Games purpose is to substitute and enlarge the opportunity for respect for both gay men and women in the world, to gain respect and understanding from the heterosexual world, primarily through an organized, cultural and sporting event known as the “Gay Games. Main goals of the organization are to promote equality within and through the organization. Second there will be no hate, discrimination on the biases of sexual orientation. By having sporting events having such broad mandated rules and regulations, like the Olympics, regulations like sex testing and policing of sport often prioritize these regulations over the sport. These sporting events are no longer a natural based event, they become over policed, embarrassing, and take away from the nature of sport. The Gay Games don’t question what gender a person is, or what their testosterone levels are if you’re a female. As long as one can prove they have lived as the specific sex for 2+ years that’s all the regulation the Gay Games have on gender testing, no blood test of an individuals
In a follow up survey in 2007, the percentage of individuals polled jumped from the low thirties to approximately 60% agreeing that homosexual relations should be legal. Just like women have been “demanding the right to fully participate in the Olympics (Carpentier, 2006, p.1112),” LGBTQ athletes strived for the same opportunity to compete and have equality. Waitt explains that the Gay Games validate how sports’ bodies and performances are customary within historically and rooted in the means of discourse. By going forth and creating these games, Waddell sparked social change, and acceptance that continues today. The Gay Games purpose is to substitute and enlarge the opportunity for respect for both gay men and women in the world, to gain respect and understanding from the heterosexual world, primarily through an organized, cultural and sporting event known as the “Gay Games. Main goals of the organization are to promote equality within and through the organization. Second there will be no hate, discrimination on the biases of sexual orientation. By having sporting events having such broad mandated rules and regulations, like the Olympics, regulations like sex testing and policing of sport often prioritize these regulations over the sport. These sporting events are no longer a natural based event, they become over policed, embarrassing, and take away from the nature of sport. The Gay Games don’t question what gender a person is, or what their testosterone levels are if you’re a female. As long as one can prove they have lived as the specific sex for 2+ years that’s all the regulation the Gay Games have on gender testing, no blood test of an individuals