PRIDE GUIDE 1998 GAY PEOPLE's ChroNICLE
C-7
Gay Games to combine sports, culture and politics
by Nancy Marcus
Between August 1 and August 8, gays and lesbians worldwide will come together for "Gay Games Amsterdam 1998-Friendship Through Culture and Sports."
First held in San Francisco in 1982 and every four years since, this year's Gay Games is expected to draw over 200,000 visitors from all over the world. For the first time, the eight-day extravaganza will feature numerous cultural and social programs, in addition to the sporting events.
Amsterdam, a city with a long history of diversity and culture, has opened its arms in a welcome embrace of the upcoming Games.
The historic focus of the Gay Games, the sporting events, will include thirty competition sports involving over 12,500 participants, as well as the demonstrative sports of aerobics, fencing, handball, hockey, and equestrian sports. Some of the demonstrative sports will take place along the streets of Amsterdam. All of the competition sports will follow national and international rules. The swimming event, possibly the largest ever organized in the world, will feature in addition to competitive events, the swimming dance act "Pink Flamingo," a beloved tradition of the Gay Games.
Visitors can easily reach most of the competitions by Amsterdam's public transportation system, and most events are free of charge.
The festive opening and closing ceremonies for the Gay Games will take place in the famous Amsterdam Arena, where over 50,000 people can gather. The opening ceremony on August 1 will feature a clog dance choreographed for over 100 dancers, several internationally acclaimed performers, and a fireworks show, all leading up to the ceremony's highlight—a parade of 15,000 athletes and cultural program participants, and a special presentation of the AIDS Quilt.
Opening day will be celebrated on the water as well, through “Canal Pride,” a colorful parade of exotically dressed gays and lesbians sailing through the canals of Amsterdam.
The closing ceremony on August 8 will feature the announcement of the host city for Gay Games 2002, a fireworks display, and a huge dance party.
Also on closing day, runners will follow the historic route of the 1928 Olympic marathon along spectacular Dutch countryside in the Gay Games Marathon, the largest sports event of the Games. Runners can register for the race up until a half hour before the 9 am starting time.
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As an alternative to the m arathon, visitors may register for the "Variathon," a quest to cover 26.4 miles in a team of eight members using the most unusual means of transport imaginable, and with each member responsible for a part of the course.
Throughout the week, Gay Games visitors will be able to mingle, shop, eat, drink, register for events, and get more information at the specially constructed "Friendship Village" located in the center of Amsterdam. Inside the village, there will be a variety of shops, women's bars, men's bars, an open stage for daily artistic performances, international news stands and flower shops featuring "Gay Games tulips."
People with AIDS or other medical conditions will be able to relax in special areas set up in both the Friendship Village and Amsterdam Arena.
Visitors will also be able to book walking tours, cruises, and cycling trips, and get other information, tickets and merchandise at the official Gay Games Information Center, which has been open since
A guide to Amsterdam
Those wishing for the most thorough one-stop planning trip for their Gay Games Amsterdam adventure would be wise to pick up a copy of the debut Damron publication Damron Amsterdam.
The recently published gay travel guide to Amsterdam includes
a chapter devoted to Gay Games, as well as chapters on general travel information (includ-
ing tips on money exchange, transportation, customs, and other crucial subjects), sleeping accommodations, restaurants, daytime attractions, evening entertainment (including
tips on Amster-
dam's unique
Red Light District, leather
scene, and "smoking" cafes), and an index contain-
AMSTERDAM
ing an up-to-date calendar, website and resource lists, and a handy glossary.
The book also features nine full-color but conveniently sized maps of Amsterdam, which highlight the exact locations of accommodations, museums, and lesbiangay centers, bookstores, bars, and nightclubs. At $9.95, "Damron Amsterdam” is the most cost-effective, gay-focused and city guide available to Gay Games visitors.
For a free Damron catalog, call 800-462-6654, or browse the Damron website at http://www.damron.com
February and is located in Amsterdam's City Hall.
This year's cultural program, the biggest in the history of the Gay Games, will consist numerous exhibitions, festivals, art projects, and theater shows. About 250 amateur and professional artists will offer visitors a huge variety of concerts, shows and exhibitions, many of which will be free of charge. Several theaters will present films for Gay Games visitors, including the first ever open-air gay and lesbian film festival presented in the Netherlands, free of charge.
Many of Amsterdam's first-class museums and galleries have collaborated to organize forty exhibitions related to the Gay Games. Fifty gay choirs from Europe, America, Australia and Africa will come together in a choir festival hosted by Europe's oldest gay choir, “Noot aan de Man." The choirs will perform at various outdoor locations throughout the city for several days, closing with a gala performance of the most notable choirs on Friday, August 8.
The social politics program will consist of conferences, workshops, and symposiums organized by various international gay rights organizations.
Conferences themes will include coming out, law, refugees, AIDS, activism in a global perspective, sex education, gay history, the politics of queer sports, and dozens of other hot topics.
The European Rainbow Quilt Tour will begin months before the Gay Games as a team of volunteers travels through 15 countries in a convoy of cars, caravans and campers in all the colors of the rainbow to draw attention across Europe to the urgent need to continue fighting AIDS.
After the Quilt our arrives at the opening ceremony, the AIDS memorial quilts from 40 countries will be displayed in
Amsterdam for three days as part of the largest quilt display ever.
In addition to the numerous sporting, cultural and social politics events, eight days of parties in various locations across Amsterdam have been planned for Gay Games; among them the opening night "Out of Towners Ball," the "Back to the '70s Party;" and the "Havana" party. There will also be several women's parties with various themes; and the the "Wedding Party," where couples from around the world may share their vows in a magical Amsterdam-style group ceremony.
Additional fun can be found at the threeday women's festival entitled "Lesbian Nations," to be held August 5 through August 7. The women's festival will close with the "Timemachine" party.
On the weekends, special Gay Games church and Shabbat services will be held. On Sunday afternoon, August 2, an ecumenical church service organized by several Christian organizations will be held in the Oude Kerk, the oldest church in Amsterdam. On Friday, August 7, a Shabbat meal will be hosted by a Jewish organization for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, to be followed by services on Saturday.
Tickets for Gay Games events are available at the Gay Games ticket center, tel: +31 (0)20 4200 200; e-mail: gaygames@uitburo.demon.nl. To rent a vendor's stand in Friendship Village, write
to
Ruud Oosterhof at Oosterhof (@gaygames.nl.
Information on alternative accommodations such as hostels, campsites, and apartments for rent or swap may be obtained through the Amsterdam Tourist Office at +31-900-400 40 40 (for a charge) or through the Gay Games internet website: http://www.gaygames.nl.
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