The Gay Games: The Play of Sexuality, Sport - Victoria University ...

statement of Aims
The general aim of tiiis thesis is to provide a social history of the Gay Games from
their origins in San Francisco in 1980 to Gay Games V held in Amsterdam in 1998.
The Specific aims to this thesis are:
1. To understand the Gay Games in their historical and social context.
This includes: the social context of the society in which they are hosted; how
the Games have been organised, developed and changed; how the intemational
Gay Games movement has developed and its relationships to the Gay Games;
the mtemational context of the Gay Games and theh global unpacts; and what
the Games have represented to participants and to mamstream culture.
2. To examine and compare critically the social constmctions and
meanings of sex, gender, sexuality, sport and community in mainstream sport
and the Gay Games.
3. To examine critically the politics of the Gay Games. This includes the
politics of identity and difference and the implications of the Gay Games for
the globalisation of gay and lesbian identity.
Particular attention will be paid to the role and organisation of sport at the Gay Games
as issues of sex, gender and sexuality for GLBTQI communities and mainstream
society are most contentious and significant here. A substantial Cultural Festival was
added to the Gay Games program in Vancouver in 1990. Culture had essentially been
left off or downplayed within the Games agenda by the early organisers because gays
performing in theatre and dance only tended to confirm stereotypes. The Cultural
Festival of the Games has historical significance in itself and its development is
documented in this thesis. The actual development of the Cultural Festival has a
strong gendered and sexual politics. Likewise, the inclusion of a social issues and
mtemational human rights program during the Amsterdam Gay Games of 1998 will