Fridae

Over 1000 participants from 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to descend on Wellington, New Zealand from 12-19 March 2011 to participate in sports competitions, a human rights conference, a large GLBTI arts and cultural festival, and dance parties.

Sixteen sports have been announced so far: Badminton, bridge, dancesport, diving (platform and springboard), field, hockey, golf, lawn bowls, mountain biking, netball, running (5k and 10k), fast-pitch softball, squash, swimming, ten pin bowling, tennis and volleyball.

The opening of registrations for the 2nd AsiaPacific Outgames will be celebrated at a gala event in Auckland on Saturday June 12 in the 5-star Hilton Hotel. The evening is being organised jointly by OUTLine, the confidential counselling service that operates nationwide, and the Outgames. Tickets to the gala event at the Hilton Hotel are $20, which includes canapés and entertainment. A cash bar will be available.

The Wellington event will be held in the Wellington City Council chambers this Friday night, June 11, with Councillor John Morrison representing the mayor.

Registration parties are also taking place the same weekend in Christchurch, and in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. Click for more details.

The 3rd World Outgames will be held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2013.

Gay Games and Outgames announce intention to merge by 2018

In March 2010, the Gay Games and Outgames announced their intention to merge to become a single world event.

According to a press statement issued by the Federation of Gay Games, the agreement comes after a meeting of the Co-Presidents of the Federation of Gay Games and the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (which organises the Outgames) on 5 March in Manchester, UK. A joint working group will be set up to continue the  discussions required to carry out the intended goal of one quadrennial world event in 2018.

The Gay Games was first held in San Francisco in 1982 with 1,350 participants and was held in North America quadrennially until Amsterdam hosted the 1998 event. Gay Games VIII will be held in Cologne, Germany on 31 July-7 August 2010. 

The first World Outgames was held in Montreal, Canada, in 2006. The Canadian city was originally selected to host the 2006 Gay Games but the Montreal Committee could not reach a contractual agreement with the Federation of Gay Games. In November 2003, Montreal announced that it would hold their own international gay sporting event. It was originally called Rendez-Vous Montreal 2006, but was later changed to Outgames. The governing body that manages Outgames is Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA).