The Gay Games

The Gay Games represent a significant and alternative space in the world of sport. Research has been undertaken on the potential legacies of the 2014 Games held in Cleveland/Akron, with collaboration from the Cleveland Foundation, the leading sponsor. 

Project objectives

The main aims of the research project were

  • to identify the potential legacies of the Gay Games
  • to investigate the barriers affecting the legacies
  • to explore the contestations around the sport versus cultural emphasis
  • to investigate the legitimacy of the event as a sporting spectacle
  • to understand how the Gay Games contributes to debates about masculinity

Project impact

Results from interviews with 29 stakeholders revealed a range of economic, tourism, volunteer, and arts related legacies; however, the socio-political aspects may be the biggest legacies.

Local politicians, tourism officials, sports groups, community leaders, sponsors and Games organisers believed the most important legacies of the Games are the complex interconnections made in bringing the event together, and how this may lead to reconfigure wider attitudes of the LGBTQI community in the area and across the State of Ohio. However, the study identifies the challenges associated with measuring legacies and the barriers that may affect them coming to fruition.

This is part of a series of papers that will re-visit the legacies in the area in the future.

Additional research projects by Dr Jarvis have also explored how a sport tourism event like the Gay Games can challenge traditional notions of masculinity, increase our understanding of the politics of sexuality and sport, and how the Games are becoming increasingly commercialised. The studies have investigated how the legitimacy of the Games has been questioned with some debate over the emphasis between its sporting and/or cultural elements.

Research team

Dr Nigel Jarvis

Output

Jarvis, N. (2015 forthcoming).The Politics of Sexuality and Sport. In J. Kelly, J.W. Lee and A. Bairner (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Sport and Politics. London: Routledge.

Jarvis, N. (2014). Masculinity and the Gay Games:  A consideration of hegemonic and queer debates, pp. 58-72. In M. Casey and T. Thurnell-Read (eds.). Men, Masculinities, Travel and Tourism. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Jarvis, N. (2013). A short, selective history of the Gay Games: conflicts, clashes and controversies, pp. 85-102. In U. Merkel (ed.). Power, Politics and International Events - Socio-Cultural Analyses of Festivals and Spectacles. London: Routledge.

Partners

The Cleveland Foundation