Gay Games Collection, 1982-2010 Coll2011.046*
Finding aid prepared by Marc LaRocque
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
(c) 2011
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, California, 90007
(213) 741-0094
askone@ONEarchives.org
Title: Gay Games Collection
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2011.046*
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
Language of Material:
English
Container: 1
Physical Description:
1.0 linear foot.
[19 folders]
Date (inclusive): 1982-2010
Abstract: Programs, clippings, flyers, correspondence, articles, news releases, competition schedules, competition results, advertising
pamphlets, graphic design documents, and notebooks documenting the Gay Games (formerly the Gay Athletic Games), an athletic
event founded in 1982 by Tom Waddell and held in various locations in the United States and abroad at four year intervals
between 1982 and 2010.
creator:
Gay Games.
The Gay Games was an athletic event and festival first held in San Francisco between August 28 and September 5,1982. The event
was founded by Tom Waddell, and it was first referred to as the Gay Olympics as it was modeled after the international Olympic
Games. Controversy surrounding the event began when the U.S. Olympic Committee filed a legal injunction that succeeded in
preventing use of the word "Olympic" as part of its name. As a result, it was known as the Gay Athletic Games that first year.
Four years after the Gay Athletic Games were held in San Francisco, the Gay Games continued the tradition of a gay athletic
competitions and festivals held, like the Olympics, in different cities at four-year intervals.
Contact ONE archivist regarding access restrictions.
Contact ONE archivist regarding publication and use restrictions.
Gay Games Collection, Coll2011-046, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
In order to provide access to this collection, minimal processing on this collection was expedited in 2011. Date spans were
given wherever possible, but do not reflect the most accurate inclusive dates.
Programs, clippings, flyers, correspondence, articles, news releases, competition schedules, competition results, advertising
pamphlets, graphic design documents, and notebooks documenting the Gay Games (formerly the Gay Athletic Games), an athletic
event held in various locations in the United States and abroad at four year intervals between 1982 and 2010. In addition
to the planning, schedule and results of the competitive events themselves, the collection documents two controversies: the
first over the event's use of the word "Olympic," the second regarding a screening of Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 film of the
1936 Berlin Olympics as part of a fundraiser for the Games. Also documented are cultural events associated with the Gay Games.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Federation of Gay Games.
Gay athletes
Gays and sports
Lesbian athletes
Lesbians and sports