Press Release

An Extraordinary World Registration Day

Montréal, 13 November 2004 – “Registration for the 1st World Outgames Montréal 2006 has just passed the 1,750 mark, which is in line with our forecasts for twenty-two months from the event,” Ms. Louise Roy, Montréal 2006 CEO announced today. “These registrations came from all five continents, giving us a firm indication that Montréal 2006 will be a truly international event, the likes of which has not been seen in Montréal since the Olympic Games in 1976.”

65 PARTICIPATING CITIES
World Registration Day for the 1st World Outgames was made possible by the incredible collaboration of hundreds of volunteers in 65 cities around the world. From Paris to New York, from Vancouver to Halifax, from Copenhagen to Lagos, from Lusaka to Shanghai, from Sydney to Tel Aviv, from Rio de Janeiro to Karachi, from Istanbul to Tampa, registrations poured in for both sport and cultural activities, as well as for the International Conference for the advancement of LGBT rights.

SPORTS
With a total of 1,750 participants registered as of today, the 1st World Outgames are definitely off to an incredible start. Athletes from around the world will be coming to Montréal exactly thirty years after the 1976 Olympics, where they will deliver performances certain to thrill and entertain the public. All sports in the Outgames programme are sanctioned by the federations that oversee each discipline.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
“The Right to Be Different” International Conference will bring together about 2,000 participants, and will be the first of its kind ever held on such a scale. The success of World Registration Day for International Conference registrations is due in large part to the massive participation of the Québec labour federations (CSN, CSQ, FTQ) as well as the Canadian Labour Congress. Together, they registered over one hundred delegates to the International Conference. It is also worth noting that almost one third of International Conference participants come from Southern Hemisphere countries.

CULTURE
The four major cultural activities—apart from the Opening and Closing Ceremonies that will be televised by the Société Radio-Canada—also sparked a great deal of participant activity on World Registration Day. More than 2,000 choral singers, dancers and other performers are expected to take part in the 1st World Outgames in 2006.

CATCH THE MONTRÉAL FEELING!
“The enthusiasm that the 1st World Outgames Montréal 2006 has created in the LGBT community,” concluded Ms. Roy, “has made us more committed than ever to realising our primary goals: to successfully deliver, in 2006, the greatest international event ever seen, to celebrate our values and invite our fellow citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, to get to know our community and to discover our spirit and vision.”

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