A Victorian LGBTQIA+ sports inclusion advocate has set the record straight on why Melbourne should win its bid to host the Gay Games in 2030.
Every four years since 1982, the Gay Games has drawn thousands of athletes and spectators to host cities around the world for a celebration of inclusive sport.
Last month, Gay Games organisers announced the exciting news that Perth and Melbourne were on a shortlist of seven cities in the running to host the 2030 event.
The shortlist also includes Auckland, Cape Town, Denver, Taipei in Taiwan and Edmonton in Canada.
Last weekend, Victorian sports minister Steve Dimopolous threw his support behind the event. But at the time he also copped a misinformed political backlash in the wake of the state government’s costly axing of the Commonwealth Games.
Proud2Play community development officer Kade Matthews has set the record straight, telling JOY 94.9 the Gay Games bid is led by community, not government, and conflating the two events isn’t accurate.
“The Gay Games and Commonwealth Games are very, very different events,” he explained to the radio station.
While the Commonwealth Games are about elite competition, Kade said the Gay Games focus on “participation and celebrating community”.
Each Gay Games event offers a space “where we can all come together as a worldwide event and celebrate ourselves and have people feel comfortable in sport,” he said.
“All of the Gay Games events in Victoria [would use] existing venues. We’re not building things like athlete villages and so on,” he said.
“The bid itself isn’t led by the government. It’s led by community. A community of people from various organisations and sporting backgrounds are leading the Melbourne bid.
“It’s a very different beast to something like the Commonwealth Games.”
Melbourne is a perfect host city for 2030 Gay Games
Each Gay Games typically attracts around 10,000 athletes and many more spectators to the host city. Australia last hosted the Gay Games in Sydney in 2002.
“I think Melbourne’s in a really good place to host the Gay Games,” Kade Matthews said.
“We’ve got over 30 queer sporting clubs in Melbourne. [Proud2Play is] also doing a lot of work with the sporting sector and leisure facilities.
“Venues like Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, climbing gyms, stadiums and spaces all around Melbourne are all involved in inclusion programs.
“With the equality unit at the Victorian government and spaces like the Pride Centre, we’ve got a really good base in community that can support this work.
“In my opinion, I think we’re really light years ahead of a lot of places inAustralia to deliver these programs for our community and make sport a safe space.”
Shortlisted cities to present Gay Games bids next month
Meanwhile, Pride WA is leading Perth’s bid and they’ve said their city is excited and ready to host the Gay Games in 2030.
In late August, the Federation of Gay Games confirmed each shortlisted city had submitted “bid books” outlining their preliminary hosting proposal.
Soon, representatives from the shortlisted cities will formally present their bids in-person at the Federation’s AGM in Washington DC in October.
The FGG will announce three finalist cities in December 2024. The host city will be announced in November 2025.
Hong Kong and Guadalajara, Mexico co-hosted the last Gay Games in November 2023. Sydney was the last Australian city to host in 2002.
The next Gay Games will be held in Valencia, Spain in 2026.
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