Gays and lesbians came together this week in Copenhagen. More than 5,000 participants from many different countries are currently wrapping up a week of gay and lesbian solidarity. This is the week that was.
Ian Johnson, Out Now
July 31, 2009
Topics: Copenhagen. Gay and lesbian sports. LGBT sporting events. World Outgames. Denmark gay and lesbian community. Opening ceremony of OutGames. Out Now. GLBT marketing.
Gay and lesbian community members from around the world are currently wrapping up a week of sports, culture, business and politics in Copenhagen, Denmark - as the World Outgames draws to a close.
I eschewed my usual hotel accommodation and was lucky enough to be invited to stay at a ten person gay guest house called Copenhagen Rainbow, right in the gay centre of Copenhagen - with many of the Aussie swim team.
A really great group of guys, and they helped make my visit to Outgames something I will always remember.
It was great to bump into many known people from the GLBT world.
Pictured is openly gay - and openly HIV positive - Jack Mackenroth of Project Runway fame on the very gay friendly Bravo Network in the US reality TV market.
I chatted to him when he visited our guesthouse and he said he and his relay team were hopeful of taking home a swag of medals from the pool.
(Happily, the Australian swimmers and runners did a great job at bagging a fair share of the medal tally for themselves too.)
I was fortunate to attend and speak at the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce IGLCC 'Out For Business' forum.
My topic was on LGBT marketing from a global perspective - and I will write a separate article on that and other things that happened this week.
Today though, an article I wrote is appearing online at gay media market publication PrideLife (UK) website.
Here is that PrideLife article:
Copenhagen Alive With OutGames
By: Ian Johnson
The OutGames is in full swing. Ian Johnson reports from the World OutGames in Copenhagen.
The World OutGames in Copenhagen is now in full swing.
Festivities commenced on Saturday 25 July with a march into the main City Square by the more than 5,500 participants attending this event.
It was encouraging to see people attending from many countries where to be gay or lesbian is still a difficult thing. Countries like China, Indonesia and Singapore were all represented.
The Copenhagen mayor, Ms Ritte Bjerregaard officially opened the gay games and welcomed all those attending.
In her remarks she paid tribute to the world's first couple to enter into a civil partnership in 1989 - represented in Copenhagen by surviving partner, 95-year-old Dane Axel Axgil.
Axgil was also responsible for establishing Denmark’s first lesbian and gay rights group way back in 1948. He’s a true pioneer and inspiration for the gay rights movement worldwide.
As well as a week of sports events where competitors race to set personal bests according to their age, a three day International LGBT Human Rights Conference has been taking place, with noteworthy people presenting thought-provoking and informative papers.
John Amaechi of Manchester and formerly of the US NBA professional basketball league talked about the power of sports to change people's attitudes towards homosexuality.
Virginia Apuzzo , a lesbian activist and political appointee under the Clinton administration, talked passionately about her experiences growing up first amongst Sister of Charity nuns and then as a member of a lesbian feminist collective.
"You might be surprised to learn that the change between the two institutions was not that large," she told the audience.
The International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce presented an 'Out For Business' conference stream, at which a range of issues relating to workplace diversity, corporate social responsibility and LGBT marketing were discussed.
I presented a paper on understanding LGBT marketing in a global context, considering what this means to gays and lesbians around the world, and how corporate support can be harnessed to create tangible improvements in lesbian and gay lives.
There was a sour note on Tuesday afternoon when an anti-gay protestor threw a lit firework at a track and field meet which caused a slight injury to the hand of a runner from Seattle, Washington. A 31-year-old man is currently under arrest awaiting prosecution on a charge of reckless endangerment.
Finally, there remains the question of whether the OutGames in Copenhagen will be the last - as the original and longer established Gay Games event is set to return to Europe in 2010.
Many of the athlete participants in Copenhagen, especially those from the US, are questioning why the two organisations do not try harder to find a way to unite.
A paucity of sponsors and lower than planned numbers due to the economic crisis has perhaps sharpened people's focus on the issue here in 2009.
The OutGames was first held in Montreal in 2006, when the organisers of that city's Gay Games fell out with the Federation of Gay Games committee.
The OutGames II concludes in Copenhagen on Saturday 1 August, 2009.
Ian Johnson is the founder and CEO of Out Now, a market consulting company focussing on the gay and lesbian market. For more information visit the Out Now Consulting Website
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