ABSTRACT
The significant growth in the size, scope and complexity of the Gay Games was based on a number of major social, economic and political developments shaping everyday life, particularly in Western countries. These developments included social change and the growth of social movements coming out of the civil rights, second wave feminism, and Gay Liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Lesbians and gay men were forming visible and vibrant communities, especially in major cosmopolitan Western cities. They were demanding the end to their discrimination by the State and within society. Many lesbians were influenced by and/or involved with the women’s movement and were critical of the patriarchal gender order dominating society. Gay-owned and directed media, businesses, political organisations, gay and lesbian pride and cultural events and a growing leisure industry were integral aspects of gay community life so that the founding and growth of gay and lesbian sports organisations occurred in fertile soil. These foundations of community life were supportive, affirming and sustaining, especially to gays and lesbians who often suffered within a directly discriminating and oppressive wider society.
