nice attempt at humor--don't quit your day job

I'm competing in Monteal in the 5K race walk

And a famous person in this sport would BE....???

Best of luck T-daddy. :cool:

Good luck to you too, T-Daddy! And have fun! :cool:

Rob and Paul of Team Toronto should both be in Chicago by now. We had a meeting earlier this week to determine which of the three bids Team Toronto would support for Gay Games 2010 and it was quite an interesting meeting. With Rob having been one of the site inspectors, we had the advantage of some of his own personal insights which helped in some ways to guide our decisions.

Each city's bid had many things that we really liked about them so it was not an easy choice. We finally did settle on one of the bids, but Paul and Rob as our reps will have the right to change our selection if during the presentations new information comes forward that would warrant such a change.

And to be fair to all three bids I won't say here who it is we are planning on supporting, but I am looking forward to the decision.

Good luck to all three bidding cities, and congratulations on all your great work thus far.

Pat

Outgames announces that 3 major US organizations have become Outgames partners for the conference portion of the Outgames. NOW - The National Organization for Women, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation. (GLAF)

The conference portion of the Outgames and its goal of promoting GLBT rights internationally is really going to play a significant role in making the Outgames one of the most significant events of its kind in the history of GLBT rights. The representative from GLAF is quoted as saying
"We believe that the Conference is of such significance that GLAF has decided not to hold its own annual conference in 2006 in order to join forces with the many groups and associations that will be taking part in the Montréal Conference for the defense of LGBT rights around the world.” GLAF representatives are focusing specifically on the parts of the conference program related to sport, the practice of sports, homophobia in sport and in supporting our youth in affirming their identity.

Some 400 submissions for the call for proposals have already been received by the Outgames conference. Also some new speakers for the conference have been announced including Kim Gandy - the pres. of NOW (National Organization for Women) and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson.

One more day to go. It seems that all three bidding cities are getting ready for the final night. They have all updated their homepages: there is an SMS alert on the Jo'burg http://www.gaygamesjohannesburg.com/ and Cologne http://www.games-cologne.com/ page - Cologne has a movie on-line as well. On the Paris website there is a new newsletter http://www.parisgames2010.org/ . Really keen to see who is gonna make it. May the best one win and good luck to everybody!

From my sources looks like Cologne has won for 2010.

http://www.gaygames.com/en
http://www.gaygameschicago.org
http://www.games-cologne.de

Welcome to Cologne in 2010!
Thank you for all the support and the fair competition in the past two years!
Have a look at our city and just feel home:

http://www.games-cologne.de/movies/GayGames.wmv

Viva Colonia

Colonius-

Congratulations to the city of Cologne, the winning city for Gay Games 2010. Very stiff competition from the Paris and Joburg bids. I've been to Cologne twice (most recently during the FGG annual meeting exactly one year ago), and I know what an amazing city it is, more than capable of putting on a truly fantastic event in such a vibrant city.

In Chicago the Cologne/2010 announcement made it to the 10:00pm news on the local NBC affiliate.

... and CBS, and Fox, and South African Broadcasting, and Q Television, and Pink TV (all present at the announcement in Chicago yesterday) and Logo (present today).

[ November 14, 2005, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: KevinB ]

Congrats Cologne! So it will be Copenhagen in the summer of 2009 for Outgames and then many of us will trek 400 miles to the south the following summer for Cologne in 2010.

Next big event up for bidding - Outgames 2013. So far preliminary interest from Machester and Sao Paulo. I suspect many more cities after the success of Montreal next summer.

Again congrats this time to Cologne and better luck next time to Paris and Joburg (my personal favourite) for a future try at either the Gay Games again, or maybe against Manchester and Sao Paulo in bidding for Outgames 2013.

Cheers,
Pat

here's the English version of the Cologne site

http://www.games-cologne.com/

just registered for the outgames full meal deal - rowing, swimming, the bears' party (!!! never been to a 'rave' but why not?) and the conference. make that 9481 registrants - yeah! more than anything i'm looking forward to the conference, the nourishment for the soul.

on the side, andre boisclair just won the leadership of the parti quebecois, and is the new leader of the opposition party in quebec. the 39 year old homosexuall hottie who admitted to using cocaine while a cabinet minister (but not while working!) and saw his popularity go up with his apology should provide a colourful sidebar to the event in montreal.

as well, for anyone who reads this in the next 18 minutes, cbc one (am) is interviewing mm justice louise arbour from 9-10 pacific time. she's quebecois, a former canadian supreme court judge, was in the hague and the war crimes tribunal chief prosecutor in both yogoslavia and rowanda, who is now the un high commissioner of human rights. she is one of the keynotes at the 'right to be different' conference in montreal. such intellect and passion and pragmatism.

she's quite solid in calling canadians 'romantic' in our own self assessment, that we are too comfortable in our position, and that we need to move from a charitible frame of mind to a true belief in the entitlement of others. she also points out we don't know much about our history, such as not signing the declaration of human rights originally, which put us in bed with some very sketchy countries, because of conservative forces here. i can't wait to hear her in person.

i'm also very pleased to see that all the gay games cities were working hand in hand with their tourism associations, local and state. this professional partnership will be invaluable. can't wait to visit cologne in 2010 - congratulations to the team there!

the world seems ok tonight.

I've never been to Germany but I'll be there

Not a good week for South African Sports bids. They lost the 2011 World Cup of Rugby too with New Zealand winning that event yesterday.

Oh well - at least they still have the biggest prize in 2010 - with the FIFA World Cup of Soccer.

I hear Outgames is up to 30,000 registrants, all paid of course!!

Hey Softball Stud:
We certainly have seem a spike in interest in the Outgames from a travel perspective in the last few weeks, which of course makes sense with 3,000 or so new registrations over the last 2-3 months. In the last two weeks alone we have booked over 60 rooms for about 135 athletes and choral participants from all over North America. In the last two weeks we've booked people from San Francisco, Columbus, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa. And my friend from the Outgames UK tour operator reports that business is taking off there too. One booking alone netted 58 people. They are even chartering a plane out of Manchester, demand has been so high from that city.

Pat

But of course travelpat, it will be no time at all before outgames is up to 50,000 registrants coming from every single nation in the world.

Please don't forget the services offered to the LGBT folks on Mars and beyond.

Oh, that is Mark Tewksbury's home town...surely they have hundreds already registered from there. I'm certain I read that on their web site.

Actually Mark's original hometown I believe was Calgary. Now I know that for many of us more liberal Canadians, the negative attitudes of those neo-con Calgarians towards more progressive ideas - like gay marriage - can make it seem to the rest of us that a lot of Calgarians are from Mars (or other less progressive places like your 'red' states), but with the help of our courts, gay activists in Alberta and our Liberal federal government, we are slowly but surely dragging Alberta along with the rest of us into the 21st century. Hopefully the conference aspect of the Outgames will play a role in dragging the rest of the world along too.

Cheers,
Pat

And before somebody tries to twist my words, please note I did say your 'red' states. I was not America bashing, as I am well aware of the fact that some of your Blue states (eg. Mass.) can be as progressive as places like Canada or more liberal countries in Europe. (Like Denmark - who will incredibly be celebrating their 20th anniversary of gay marriages when they host the Outgames in 2009.)

Travelpat, another option is that you could give up. I mean that you could give up trying to convince people on this board that there's more to life beyond the schism.

You, and I, and 10,000 others have already chosen to go to Montreal. Unfortunately, when a "what are you doing in Montreal" thread was started, it didn't get any postings. It has since been removed. Clearly those who have moved on are not posting here.

Does anyone know of an alternative board where people are discussing what they'll be doing in Montreal?

Btw, I will likely to both Copenhagen in '09 and Cologne in '10. I won't be going to Chicago though, and through no fault of theirs. I can't believe that the FGG didn't see the conference and the pride celebrations as complimentary to the GG, and that the involvement of the tourism folks made them uncomfortable. Anyway, back to work...

Don

*** This message was edited by me after Kevin's post below ***

Hey Don:
Actually I enjoy posting here. For the most part (as of late) even those being critical of my posts are at least doing it with a sense of humour, and not getting personal.

The bottom line is that I'm a big believer and supporter of the both the Outgames and what GLISA is doing long term to advance GLBT sport.
The goals they are advancing, just like the Gay Games, are things I believe in. That is why I have been involved for such a long time with Team Toronto - going on 8 or 9 years now. I believe organizations like Team Toronto have a crucial role to play in assisting the growth of GLBT sport - not only locally, but internationally as well, through our memberships in organizations like GLISA.

And right now because I do work for a company that is partnered with the Outgames as one of the travel providers, I happen to have the added perk of being able to get into some really great conversations about the Outgames on a daily basis as part of my job too.

[ November 22, 2005, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Travelpat ]

I continue to wonder about the appropriateness of using this bulletin board for ill-disguised sales promotions by anyone, in this case a travel agent for the OutGames. However couched, that is what many of these messages from Pat Barry are about and while he will occasionally acknowledge the conflict, this past message crosses the line for me.

250 days to go and the latest Outgames newsletter is out.
http://www.montreal2006.org/en_newsletter.html

Highlights
- Don you have your wish. A discussion forum has been launched on the Montreal 2006 website.
- 17 million dollars worth of sponsorships
- find your match for 2006 - This outlines a process that will allow those looking for partners or teammates in their sport to register and Montreal 2006 will help you find people to compete with. For example if you are a rower but do not have a full crew, they'll help match you up with others in the same boat, to form a full crew. (Bad pun - I know).
- Some Outgames events coming up in Boston Dec. 3-5

Also here is the latest release from GLISA updating the progress being made by Copenhagen in their preparations for 2009.
http://www.glisa.org/Media/16November2005.htm

Kevin:
I have edited the message above that you felt crossed the line of being a sales pitch. I have edited out the portions that I presume you felt crossed the line. If you feel the edited message still crosses that line - let me know what parts do and I will immediately remove those.

I have no intention of creating a controversial side bar discussion that would take the spotlight away from where it should be, and that is on all the good news coming out of Montreal.

Pat

[ November 22, 2005, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Travelpat ]

Thank you for editing that one message. I avoid posting to this chat thread much as you've made it into one long infomercial for your firm's event. You should consider setting up a blog for that purpose.

Thanks for the reply Kevin.

I'll try to refrain from making any Outgames travel related references, but I will still post good news about Montreal and GLISA as it continues to come down the pipe, so that people are aware of what's up without having to go to Montreal's website. Just as I would expect either you, Softball Stud or CHIatlete to post good news from Chicago, so that people are aware of your progress.

And for those who would rather just chat about Montreal, and not have it in this 'schism' discussion board, I refer you again to Montreal's latest newsletter where the new Montreal 2006 discussion board has been launched.

Cheers,
Pat

And Germany wink where Europe's oldest LGBT Sports Club in Cologne "SC Janus" will celebrate its 30th (!!!) anniversary along with the VIII Gay Games in 2010 - what a wonderful combination .

Cheers from Cologne

[ November 22, 2005, 10:55 PM: Message edited by: Colonius ]

Team Toronto hosts a Gay Games Registration Party for anybody in the area who wants to get the latest information on the Gay Games. A good time for those interested in registering for Chicago to take advantage of the $50.00US discount which expires December 15.

Where: Big Mamma's Boy (love that name)
554 Parliament Street
Toronto

When: Saturday December 3rd from 6:00PM to Close

Hopefully there will be a good turnout.
Cheers (and Happy Thanksgivng to those in the US)
Pat

For all of those who insist that Montreal is fudging their numbers, I want to offer up that about 125 people from Team Vanc. have taken/are taking advantage of Montreal's group discount offer. This is a pretty significant number, and it doesn't take into account individual registrations from all those keeners who had already registered. We're one city, and that was one promotion, so based on that, 9000ish registered doesn't seem out of line to me.

Vanc sent about 340 to the Sydney GGs so one would hope that we can send more than that to this summer's offerings, they both being right here in North America.

I personally am pulling for a combined registration of 25000 +. To me, that's the true test of success.

chuck.

LOL - They are already at 100,000 paid registrants (and this is only counting the captains, the number is really higher).

Pat (et al) - just wondering, when you have info about OutGames Mtl, why not post it in the 2006 OutGames Montreal thread?

It seems to me that it's time to put away this Schism thread. It's getting pretty complicated sorting through all the info and snarky comments in here. Over the next 7+ months, there's going to be TONS of info to report on both the GG Chicago and the OG Montreal, so there seems no point in dumping it all in one pot.

Just a suggestion. Keep up the good work, Pat (et al). wink

What was the name of the mascot of the 76 Olympics? I'm making a big-time voudon doll to abuse [as in the TV ad] lol!!

Those scambags deserve perp walks IMHO, and anyone who colludes with them should be permanently banned by FGG. Never forgive, never forget [wish my French were better to curse them in perpetuity - lol!!] I also extend my malediction to those who equivocate and seek to smarm over the criminality of those greedheads.

Just thought I'd get all that in - just in case the thread closed soon.

Venezuela’s Chavez must have been reading LACharlie's Outsports posts when he got his inspiration for the speech he made this fall at the UN. That last post represents far more of a transgression than anything I've ever read from TravelPat.

i was going to go into some graphic description of scat, incest, and necrophelia to see if that would get me banned from this site, but then i remembered we're all here to talk about sports!

[ November 30, 2005, 07:18 AM: Message edited by: DonVancouver ]

Okay, I think some of you are either smoking too much weed or into the scotch when posting here.

I love Quebec and Montreal, and it was a shame that a small local junta of circuit party moguls and their tourisme allies have tried to hijack the Gay Games and even the whole gay sports movement [GLISA]. Their motive was greed - the sugar plum of $200-$300 million "handle" danced in their heads! Those are the facts - long since established, never refuted. FGG is the side with the principled position.

More: You can wrap yourself in the Maple Leaf and spit on the Stars and Stripes - be my guest. I thought chauvinism died a while back - and, say - I thought English Canada still despised Quebeckers! We absorbed a lot of Cajun refugees in the distant past and recently even more economic refugees in the US Northeast. Canada may be a laudable place to visit and live, but it is not without blemishes, eh?

My concern has always been the hijacking of a wonderful sports tradition, of which GLBTQ folks and their friends could be rightfully proud, by scum who promote a tweaker [disease] culture and think they can still run a profitable gay ghetto freak show. That's pretty deplorable, don't you think? Or can't you handle the truth? :mad: :mad: :mad:

I agree, Chuck. This message thread stays alive mostly (but not all, I will admit) as a Pat/Travel infomercial ... with occasional other weirdness. Some have complained about LA Charlie, but now Don in your fair city seems to have plunged off the deep end. I'd say let this thread die, but ... here I am posting a message which keeps it alive. I'd like to invite those coming to Chicago (or thinking about it) to post on the other thread and just ignore this thread - even if the infomercial continues to flow. Maybe this thread can then finally go away.

Sorry, I just like to fire off a truth round when the lying gets up to knee level. There is really no argument - has not been one since the Great Hijacking took place. This is not a substantive debate, or a difference of approach or philosophy - it is a disgustingly crass power/money grab. IMHO, they should crash and burn in spectacular fashion. Most of the time I ignore the greedhead junta and their stupid propaganda, but sometimes, as I say, the arrogant BS piles up too high - lol!

I am still trying to figure out the purpose of this anti-American screed. Seriously, has anyone said anything in this forum that is nearly as broadly anti-Canadian as what you've posted here about the US?

[quote]aquaman[/qb][/quote]I am still trying to figure out the purpose of this anti-American screed. [/QB][/quote]

I set out to post the most "anti-american screed" possible to see if it would get me banned. Anyway, seriously, it was to make an ironic point, which was lost, obviously, due to the totally outlandish and unacceptable nature of what I was saying. I appologize. I certainly didn't mean to attribute those qualities to the many fine american citizens including the ones on this bb who work for progressive change.

On another note, what is a good time to visit Chicago, other than the GG? Is there an annual gay sports festival, or film fest, or?

Don,

Your ignorance is showing and it is embarassing!

Please do not interpret anything said by the 2 guys from Vancouver to be representative of persons from Vancouver as a whole.

Thanks

K

Hey! Would I be the other of the "2 guys from Vancouver?" If so, Ken's right; I'm not representative of Vancouver, just of me.

On an "anti-schism" note, I just managed to register for Montreal tonight to take advantage of our Team Vancouver volume discount, and my next move is to get it together and register for Chicago in order to make the discount that expires Dec 15. So far so good. Anyone have a (cheapish) hotel they LOVE in Chicago to recommend?

Hey Chuck..

How cool that you will be able to do both events, wish I had that many vacation days! ;-)

I'm in the corp. travel biz, I would gladly make a few recommendations. What is your price range? What part of the city do you prefer to stay, and what style of hotels do you typically prefer?

You can also check out the Gay Games site for a listing of blocked hotels , hosted housing, dorms...etc.

Hey CHIathlete:

Be careful what you wish for. I work under the old "work and you get paid, don't work and you don't get paid" system. Very "industrial revolution." Great if you like 14-18 hour days, no paid vacation, but relative freedom.

If I have someone to share with, my options improve. I want to be within walking distance of the gay area, like B and B's and older boutique hotels. Paying 150 a night for a place to sleep makes me crazy! (Yes, I know that's what things cost at the bottom end, but being reasonable was never my strong suit.) Know of any gems?

On the other end of the spectrum, I suppose the Motel 6/Comfort Inn type of clean but sterile are all out of town?

I would suggest staying near one of the gay games hubs, easy public transportaion options as well.

[ December 01, 2005, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: softballstud ]

Chuck-

The main gay area is Lakeview/Boystown (although I prefer the gay scene in Andersonville better), and this is where most of the bars are located. It is a VERY slim choice of hotels that are actually within walking distance of bars in Boystown and not likely you’ll get one under $150 (with the exception of the Days Inn on Diversey – around $120 or the Inn at Lincoln Park, also on Diversey). If you really have the need to stay in that area I would recommend the Best Western Hawthorne Terrace, I believe the Gay Games rate is $144 if you use the GG’s online booking tool. The City Suites on Belmont are well located, and very gay and sort of cute. There is also The Willows on Surf or the Majestic on Brompton. As far as B&B properties, really the only one I know of is The Villa Toscana Inn, located right in the heart of Boystown, 3447 North Halsted - average price $166.

Again, limited options for choices within walking distance to the main gay area.

I finally had a chance to reread and really think about the latest Federation of Gay Games press release from last month's annual meeting. With all that was accomplished there including the selection of Cologne from among three excellent candidates for Gay Games VIII in 2010 as well as the board of directors restructuring, it's very easy to overlook one of the most stunning aspects -- the comments made by Beppo Brem, co-president of EGLSF, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation which runs the EuroGames. Here is an excerpt from the release:

In remarks to the FGG, Mr. Brem said he found a different organization than he had expected. He said, "[W]hat I found is really open-mindedness, an extremely and tremendous high commitment to the LGBT sports issues, and that the European voice is not only being heard but our input is very welcome. One conclusion I will take from this annual meeting, instead of splitting up our resources we are well advised to combine all our efforts and energies, because if we talk in this terminology our real enemy is not ourselves but the homophobic sports world outside of this meeting room. So, I am personally convinced that we should start again to work together, EGLSF and FGG, and I think it could be a valuable partnership -- and that is the message I will bring back to Europe."

Wow.

http://www.gaygames.com/en/media/releases/...FGG051130PR.pdf

[ December 06, 2005, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: rtwilliams ]