The 2014 Gay Games, also known as Gay Games 9, were an international

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...

and cultural gathering organized by, and specifically for lesbian,

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, bisexual, and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

(

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 ...

) athletes, artists and musicians.The History of LGBT Participation in the Olympics
It was held from August 9 to August 16, 2014 in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, with some events being held in the nearby city of

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

. An estimated 8,000 athletes from more than 50 nations participated in 37 sports and cultural events.

Bidding Process

According to the

Federation of Gay Games The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals. Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was star ...

(FGG), fourteen cities expressed interest in hosting the event. During its annual meeting in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

on October 28, 2008, the FGG announced that four American cities made the deadline and were thus in the running to host the games:

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Of these cities, Boston, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. submitted bid books by the deadline. The FGG selected Cleveland as the host city on September 29, 2009 during its annual meeting in

Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

Opening Ceremony

Gay Games Opening Ceremonies (8-9-14) (14947239005)

The Opening Ceremony began at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 9, at

Quicken Loans Arena Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is a multi-purpose arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The building is the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL). It also serv ...

. Featured stars at the ceremony included singer, dancer and radio host

Lance Bass James Lance Bass (; born May 4, 1979) is an American singer, dancer, actor, film, and television producer. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy band NSYNC. NSYNC's success led Bass to work in film ...

, Broadway actress

Andrea McArdle Andrea McArdle is an American singer and actress best known for originating the role of Annie in the Broadway musical '' Annie''. Career McArdle was born in Philadelphia. While studying dance as a child, she was spotted by a talent agent who got ...

, Alex Newell from Glee, former Olympian

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second diver in Ol ...

, and

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, bl ...

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

made a surprise video appearance.

Events and Venues

The Games featured 37 disciplines of sport and cultural events throughout Cleveland-Akron region.

Cleveland

Ceremonies and Other Events

Akron

Other Sites

Records set

At 99 years old,

Ida Keeling Ida Olivia Keeling ( Potter, May 15, 1915 – August 25, 2021) was an American centenarian track and field athlete. Trained by her daughter Cheryl (Shelley) Keeling, herself a world record holder, Ida set Masters records in 60 meter and 100 mete ...

set an international sporting record at the 2014 Gay Games, becoming the first person in the 95-99 age category to run the 100 meters in an internationally certified race, running the race in 59.8 seconds. Brian Jacobson, at age 40, lowered the Masters long course world record in the 50 free to 23.31. Kinnon MacKinnon, at age 28, became the first openly transgender man to earn a gold in powerlifting at the Gay Games.

References

External links

Federation of Gay Games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gay Games 2014

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2014 in LGBT history 2014 in multi-sport events 2014 in sports in Ohio 2010s in Cleveland LGBT events in Ohio Sports competitions in Cleveland Multi-sport events in the United States 2014 in American sports August 2014 sports events in the United States