"Les Gaillards Paris Rugby Club" or "Les Gaillards Parisiens" is the first

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

rugby team in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, created on 19 January 2004 and recognised as an association of general interest since 23 February 2023 by the Préfecture de Paris. The association is a member of the Fédération sportive LGBT+ and of the

International Gay Rugby Association and Board International Gay Rugby (IGR), formerly known as the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB), is the umbrella organisation for the world's gay and inclusive rugby clubs. Based in London, UK, IGR is recognised by World Rugby as the ...

with has over 70 member clubs.

History

Creation of the team and the name

"Les Gaillards" came into being informally during April 2003 through a discussion on Yahoo Groupe, which allows the creation of web forums based on discussion topics. Fans of

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

, all

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

, meet on a forum to share their difficulties in practising the sport in a context of homophobia, experienced by several of them. Les Gaillards set themselves the goal of creating a collective that would enable members to play amateur rugby without suffering discrimination based on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

or gender. Anyone over the age of majority may join the group.

References

External links

Les Gaillards' official website
{{Portal, Sports, France Rugby union clubs in Paris Rugby clubs established in 2004