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

of being pubhc, visible and proud of who they were and their mvolvement and
achievements with the Gay Games. All of these people hold leadership positions
within their respective lesbian and gay communities as well as within the publicly
accessible Gay Games organisations and the FGG. Hence, their real names have been
used in this thesis. Participants were another matter and their names have been
changed for reasons of confidentiality. Real names have been used for practically all
key leaders within the Gay Games movement that appear in this history - including
those not interviewed. These leaders have appeared in publicly accessible documents
including Gay Games programs.
However, wherever there has been any doubt conceming the public identification of
individu£ds a pseudonym has been used. Unless already in the public arena, or
discussed in a way that confidentiality is maintained, the revelation of HIV status has
also been kept strictly confidential. For instance, the Games founder, Tom Waddell,
revealed his HIV positive status and illness in his biography. This is mentioned in the
thesis. One of the "participant" interviewees won the silver medal in the weightlifting
at Gay Games IV and he discussed the significance of this achievement as a HFV
positive gay man. This " participants" name has not been used in the thesis.
The interviews were transcribed and filed in a locked filing cabinet. Main filing
categories were the Gay Games in which the "organisers" were principally mvolved,
FGG involvement and a "participanf file. I initially became immersed in the
interview material by listening to the tapes, along with the transcripts and the notes
made on the interview setting, personal observations and the demographic material.
Each transcript was comprehensively examined and coded. Codmg concentrated on
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