Sunday's Tribune Asks: Why a Gay Games?

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With every stop the Gay Games have made across the globe for the last 24 years, a simple question has followed. Why do gay people need their own Olympic-style competition? More...

Mary Schmich says....
Sports is rarely just about sports, and the Gay Games aren't just about the games. They're about all the ways gays continue to be stigmatized and limited, from the athletic field to the military to marriage.

"We can't serve--supposedly because we inhibit unit cohesion and make Marines nervous in showers," David said.

"We can't support our intimate relationships in marriage, lest we threaten the institution of marriage. We can't be out as teachers, or coaches, or baby-sitters, lest we corrupt the young."And openly gay athletes still don't get a fair shot at commercial endorsements or the other perks of athletic prowess.

That's not some distant yesterday. That's July 2006.It's been a generation since I knowingly met a gay person for the first time. A generation since the Gay Games started. A generation of huge, encouraging changes. And still not enough has changed.

Maybe the Games will have run their course when fear mongering about gays is no longer an effective political tactic.

"I guess the simple moral," David said, "is there's no need for a gay Olympics the day that there is no problem being who you are in the regular ones."
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