ABSTRACT
The gay and lesbian sports movement returned to North America in 2006 in a significant and divisive manner. Competing Games were being held just an hour’s plane ride away and one week apart, in Chicago and Montreal respectively. A total of 12,000 participants attended the Chicago Gay Games and 12,599 participants attended the 1st World Outgames – Montreal 2006. There was a preponderance of American participants at the Chicago games (80 per cent) and a large number of Canadian participants at Montreal 2006 (40 per cent).1 The two separate events were the result of an acrimonious breakdown in relations between Montreal 2006 and the FGG over their failure to negotiate the licensing agreement for Gay Games VII. There were further outcomes: Montreal’s decision to stage their own Outgames, the awarding of the 2006 Gay Games to Chicago, and the establishment of a rival international LGBT sports organisation called the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA) in 2003. However, historical accounts of this split vary considerably and according to vested interests. An essential visionary clash was played out in the competing Games of 2006. The tumultuous events that followed caused a fallout that is still reverberating today, both locally and globally.
