Introduction

The international Gay Games has become one of the largest sporting, cultural and human rights events in the world, as well as the largest international participatory lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTIQ) event.1 Games have been held every four years since 1982. The first and second Games were in San Francisco, followed by Vancouver, New York City, Amsterdam, Sydney and Chicago. Over this period the Games have grown tenfold in participation and have developed from an essentially local Californian multi-sport event to a multimillion dollar, major, sporting extravaganza engaging people from all continents in diverse programmes of sports, culture, entertainment and human rights.