{"id":11521,"date":"2026-06-08T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/?p=11521"},"modified":"2026-06-08T12:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:34:16","slug":"studying-the-gay-games-for-pride-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/studying-the-gay-games-for-pride-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Studying the History of the Gay Games for Pride Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In observance of LGBTQ Pride Month<\/a> and in conjunction with the upcoming Gay Games XII<\/a> in Valencia, Spain, Rare Books and Special Collections is pleased to highlight the current ongoing exhibition Cultivating Community: Stories from Special Collections<\/em><\/a>. Cultivating Community <\/em>features the section, \u201cThe Gay Olympic<\/s> Games: Community Through Sport<\/a>,\u201d which recounts the dedicated community activism that led to the founding of the Gay Games in San Francisco in 1982.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Gay Olympic<\/s> Games: Community Through Sport,\u201d tells the early history of the Gay Games with material from the Gay Games Collection (MSSP 10070) <\/a>a manuscript collection housed in RBSC. As the exhibit explains, organizers originally adopted the name \u201cGay Olympic Games.\u201d But, weeks before the opening ceremonies, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) filed a lawsuit and received an injunction prohibiting use of the word \u201cOlympic\u201d in association with the event. Organizers hastily rebranded as the \u201cGay Games,\u201d and the competitions continued as scheduled in the late summer of 1982 in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to materials on display in the exhibit, the Gay Games Collection contains other items documenting this story and recording the dogged persistence of the LGBTQ community and allies in establishing and hosting the Gay Games. A recently acquired copy of the August 1982 Gay <\/em>Olympics<\/s> <\/em>Newsletter<\/em>, for example, visually demonstrates how organizers of the event responded to the USOC lawsuit. The newsletter editors explained in bold print: \u201cWe are not barred, however, from blocking out the world ‘OLYMPIC’ and continuing our efforts. THE GAMES WILL GO ON!!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gay Olympics<\/s> Newslette<\/em>r (MSSP10070-01-02)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Games did, indeed, go on, and the Gay Games Collection in RBSC contains material documenting the first four Gay Games from 1982 through 1994. Gay Games II was also held in San Francisco, and, from the beginning, the Gay Games included and emphasized cultural and artistic activities that celebrated the accomplishments of LGBTQ people. A program for the Procession of the Arts<\/em>, for example, detailed the \u201ccultural events\u201d associated with Gay Games II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Front covers of the Procession of the Arts<\/em> program (MSSP10070-02-03) and the Official Program of Gay Games II<\/em> (MSSP10070-02-01) from 1986.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout its existence, the Gay Games have been a welcoming, inclusive, and safe space for all athletes, spectators, fans, and allies. This flier from Gay Games III held in Vancouver in 1990 described the \u201cSpecial Philosophy\u201d of the event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The Games are open to everyone who supports their philosophy of inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness. \u201cParticipation and doing one\u2019s personal best are more important than winning,\u201d said founder [Dr. Tom] Waddell. \u201cOur friendly competitions have worked well to remove age, sex, and racial stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Gay Games III flier (MSSP10070-03-04)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since their founding, the Gay Games have been a popular participatory and spectator event for LGBTQ people and allies, and promoters of the games have created many different types of items to allow fans to demonstrate their support. For Gay Games I, the Gertrude Stein Philatelic Society produced a collectible cachet\u2014or decorative commemorative envelope\u2014celebrating \u201cThe First Gay Olympic Games.\u201d Collectible pins have also proven popular. The colorful pins below advertised San Francisco\u2019s \u201cGay Games II – Triumph in \u201886\u201d and \u201cGay Games IV – Unity \u201894\u201d held in New York City in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gay Games I cachet (MSSP10070-01-10)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gay Games II pin (MSSP10070-02-07) and Gay Games IV pin (MSSP10070-04-06)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit Cultivating Community<\/em><\/a> will be on display and open to the public during regular RBSC hours through July 17th. Now a major quadrennial international sporting event, Gay Games XII<\/a> will run in Valencia from June 27th through July 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gay Games Collection<\/a> is available and open to researchers, and RBSC welcomes donations of new material about the history of the Gay Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Previous Pride Month Posts:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

2025: Reading the Gay Rodeo Ephemera Collection for Pride Month<\/a>
2024: Reading Gay Sports Magazine in Honor of Pride Month<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In observance of LGBTQ Pride Month and in conjunction with the upcoming Gay Games XII in Valencia, Spain, Rare Books and Special Collections is pleased to highlight the current ongoing exhibition Cultivating Community: Stories from Special Collections. Cultivating Community features the section, \u201cThe Gay Olympic Games: Community Through Sport,\u201d which recounts the dedicated community activism … Continue reading Studying the History of the Gay Games for Pride Month<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1936,"featured_media":11531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75063,75052],"tags":[73938,77948,77931],"class_list":["post-11521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-research","category-us-history-culture","tag-manuscripts","tag-otd-holidays","tag-printed-ephemera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1936"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11521"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11554,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11521\/revisions\/11554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}