Tewksbury hopes Outgames will promote understanding

SOURCE: Slam! Sports

by Romina Maurinol

TORONTO (CP) - Making competitive sports more welcoming to gay and lesbian athletes is a powerful way to foster tolerance and understanding, one of Canada's top gay athletes said Sunday.

Mark Tewksbury, an Olympic gold medallist and gay rights activist, said sports can be key to affecting positive change, despite the homophobic stigma some still associate with the field.

He hopes the First World Outgames, for which he is co-president, will help create a safe environment for gay athletes who, like himself, have confronted prejudice and discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

"Sport gave me a sense of security when I was young, but I was still afraid of the consequences - would my coach stop coaching me, would my teammates reject me?" he told about 70 people attending a health conference at the University of Toronto's Athletic Centre.

"My life was so hard as an athlete because nobody created a positive space for me," Tewksbury said, adding that no soccer, football, hockey, or baseball player in North America has come out while actively involved in sports.

Tewksbury has won gold and bronze medals at the 1992 Olympic Games, a silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 13 national titles.

The 2006 World Outgames will be held July 29 to Aug. 5 in Montreal to coincide with a human rights conference and the city's annual Pride Parade.

The games are being organized by the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association - a coalition of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered sports organizations from around the world.

The Outgames are not to be confused with the similarly themed Gay Games, which are to be held July 15 to 22 in Chicago.

Unlike the 20-year-old Gay Games, which has been plagued by financial woes and is largely supported by volunteers, Tewksbury said the Outgames have sustained funding and a paid staff, assuring gay athletes a higher profile and stronger voice for their issues.

The Outgames has received $1 million in funding from all three levels of government, and has lined up big-name sponsors such as Air Canada and Bell.

However, the games are not restricted to homosexual athletes, said Tewksbury, who noted that a key goal of the event is to create a positive space for all athletes to take part in a professional competition.

"You can't make social change happen in isolation," he said.

"Even if you have the most vibrant competition, if there's only gay and lesbian people there, and no one knows about it, then you're never going to affect real, long-lasting change."

With 14 months to go, the Outgames already has 5,000 participants from 84 countries.

Tewksbury said he expects 14,000 participants.