2009

The European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) today expressed grave concerns over reports by Kick It Out last month that a Turkish referee has been forced to step down after his homosexuality was revealed through a medical report. Halil İbrahim Dinēdağ was forced to leave his job because he had been excused from his compulsory military service on account of his homosexuality, which was then documented. According to the sport's regulations, anyone who fails to complete his military service for health reasons is unfit to perform as a referee. Pepe Garcia Vazquez, Male Co-president of the EGLSF, an organisation [...]

Bringing new participants to the Gay Games is critical to continuing the growth of the Gay Games Movement, which began in 1982. Through the outreach efforts of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) and Games Cologne GmbH, more people within and outside the LGBT community can learn about and are inspired to participate in a Gay Games event. The outreach area for Games Cologne GmbH is Eastern Europe and applications are now being accepted for the scholarship program. Scholarships will be available for one or more of the following: Basic event registration fees (participatory athletic and cultural events); Travel costs [...]

EGLSF is proud to see the two international world LGBT sport events to be held in Europe in 2009 and 2010 - Outgames and Gay Games, both organised by our member clubs. The World Outgames will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark between July 25 and August 22, 2009, and if you hurry, you may still be able to register at http://www.copenhagen2009.org. The Gay Games will be held in Cologne, Germany from July 31 to August 7, 2010, and registration for these games is already open at http://www.games-cologne.de. Since the two global LGBT sports events are held in Europe in 2009 [...]

Statement by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Everyone knows that homosexuals were arrested and sent to concentration camps by the Nazis, but it is less well known that after they were freed from the camps, many homosexuals were forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment. This may seem shocking, but it was consistent with the deeply rooted discrimination against homosexuals in Europe at that time. And it was also consistent with the discrimination against homosexuals in the decades which followed. It was not until 1990 that the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from their list [...]