Fridae

When the 10th Gay Games open in Paris in August 2018 and they are hoping to welcome a large number of Chinese athletes.

Gay Games volunteer Qiu Hua has been reaching out to China’s gay community in search of athletes. 

“People in China don’t know about the games, and this is the first time there has been a direct link between the games and China,” Qiu told Sixth Tone in a telephone interview.

“It’s difficult,” Qiu said. “These kinds of groups are really hard to find.” He has also contacted several nongovernmental organizations, including ShanghaiPRIDE, to help spread the message of the games.

The Gay Games were first hosted by San Francisco in 1982 and has evolved into a large sporting and cultural event. The 2014 games was hosted in Cleveland, Ohio, featuring 10,000 athletes from 60 countries and 37 sports.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has launched a bid to host the Gay Games in 2022, which would make it the first Asian city to host the games.

Dennis Philipse is founder of Out in HK, an LGBT sports group behind the bid. He said “in its 40th anniversary, it is time to take the Gay Games back to its founding aims by planting a flag in fresh fields, where the promotion of its principles can have the greatest effect.”

Watch Gay Games 2014’s opening ceremony below (all 3 hours of it!)