For the first time in its 16-year history, the EuroGames – Europe’s premiere lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual sporting event – will travel to southern Europe. The annual showpiece attracts sportsmen and women from all over the continent, and aside from a full sporting calendar the Games provide a valuable focal point around which serious debate, cultural exchange – and a lot of fun – is organised.
EuroGames began in The Hague in 1992, where some 300 athletes competed in just four sports. The Games have since travelled around northern Europe, with past host cities including Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Zurich, Copenhagen and Munich. The Sant-Gervasi-based sports club Panteres Grogues is organising the Barcelona event, in which some 5,000 athletes are expected to compete in 25 different sporting disciplines between July 24th and 27th – perhaps a measure of both the great interest and the excellent facilities on offer in a city geared for sport.
Spain, and Barcelona in particular, is an apt choice of location for the latest edition of an event that looks to fight homophobia through sport. “Other cities had expressed their interest in bidding for the Games,” comments Joan Miró, President of the 2008 EuroGames, “but when they found out Panteres Grogues were preparing a bid they pulled out. I think they all wanted to come to Barcelona instead.”
It’s not all about a holiday in the sun, however. Three years ago same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples were formally legalised under the government of socialist Prime Minister José Zapatero. In 2006 the law on assisted reproduction was also amended to allow children born as a result of IVF treatment within a lesbian marriage to be legally recognised by their nonbiological mother.
These steps were, and still are, part of a long process of redefinition and identification that began some three decades ago, and marked a statement of intent for the whole population. They also make Spain one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to a sensible, mature debate about the diverse make-up of society.
For a country to have shifted out of the dark extremes of repression to near the top of the list of ‘most socially tolerant European nations’ in just over thirty years is truly incredible. Until as recently as 1975, the Franco regime had suppressed all behaviour deemed ‘morally inappropriate’ to its own rigid, highly conservative expectations. The influence of the Catholic Church in setting the society’s social mores also kept a very clear check on freedom of expression. As a result thousands of people were denied their human rights, as homosexuality was made highly illegal, harshly punishable and socially unacceptable.
As the dictatorship disappeared a great wave of release swept across Spain. The late 1970s and early 80s welcomed a surge of ideas, creativity, cultural and sexual expression propelled by artists, musicians, writers, and those with a desire to see universal human rights, equality and diversity reign in the ‘New Spain’. The movement, known as La Movida, channelled the reconstruction of the Spanish identity and gave its people a say in how the youngest of European constitutional democracies should be formed.
Recent laws may be an echo of this proud transition, but despite having legal rights protected members of lesbian, gay, bi and transsexual communities are still faced with an issue that cannot be legislated against: the attitudes of wider society. In part, that’s where events like the EuroGames fill a much-needed gap. Àgatha Estera, member of the EuroGames organising team, sportswoman and married mother of twin boys, is quick to point out the crucial debate behind the headline statistics. “Homophobia is still too internalised. The next step is towards ‘social normalisation’, to remove the ‘exception’ element. We need to get to the stage where society doesn’t automatically assume everyone’s heterosexuality, and that being homosexual is no longer something simply ‘tolerated’ but instead something equated to being short, or having brown eyes. It is what it is, and that’s that.”
President Joan Miró agrees. “Our demands have become rights, but we still have to win the exercise of these rights. ‘Normalisation’ is the toughest of goals to achieve.” A main theme of the Games looks to address such homophobic attitudes in the sporting world, as it is in the highest profile sports where the deepest-rooted discrimination still exists.
“There are virtually no openly gay or lesbian professional sportspeople, which is a massive statement,” explains Joan. “You can’t even find anyone in the media, referees, trainers, directors – people around or connected with sports – who are openly gay or lesbian. The same happens in most amateur sports: we are invisible in the eyes of our fellow sportspeople.”
“The prejudices of society are reflected in sports,” confirms Àgatha. “Men are tough, strong; women are weaker and delicate. In individual sports, coming out of the closet often depends on the ‘tolerance’ and the interests of the sponsors. In team sports, you have to keep in mind the added pressure of the locker room: sports like male soccer and male rugby are extremely homophobic. Machismo has a wide-open field when it comes to physical activities, where reason succumbs to hormones and adrenaline. When it comes to women, our fight is against machismo, as female sports are already discriminated against and priority given to male sports.”
Perhaps one of the most impressive elements of the Barcelona Games is the extensive range of events planned away from the sporting arena that will attempt to visibly confront these alarming realities. For a tournament that revolves around the coming together of people through sport, it is a crucial opportunity for members of the various participating communities to have their say. “The intention to unite sport with culture and discussion is relatively new for EuroGames,” explains Carlos de Cires, Head of Accommodation and Tourism for the event. “This time the organisers are looking to add many more elements, not just token gestures, but something to put real weight behind the Games.” Some 30,000 people are expected to attend the Day and Night Village areas, Equality Venue and opening and closing ceremonies as part of a programme of cultural exchange designed to eradicate prejudices and discrimination “It’s an innovative step to offer all of these events,” comments Carlos, “and while its success will be evaluated in hindsight, clearly this mix of activities will bear fruit.”
An important element in the wider impact of the Games involves the International Conference on Human Rights and Homophobia at the CaixaForum on July 24th, where specific focus will be given to the Mediterranean machismo context of homophobia. Its findings will be presented to the European Parliament, and it is hoped the ambitious programme can be a real vehicle for positive social change that extends far beyond sport, and even the specific interests of LGBT communities. “Life is about coexisting and respecting each other’s differences,” states Àgatha. “The EuroGames 2008 bets on diversity, where being different isn’t the exception and where homosexuals and heterosexuals celebrate that difference.”
The fact remains that it is the attitude of the general public which will ultimately determine whether the EuroGames succeed. “The biggest prejudice that we have run into has been that people think this is a kind of ‘ghetto competition’ – believing that they are games strict ly for the LGBT population just because the majority of the people participating are LGBT,” Àgatha explains. “Heterosexuals automatically exclude themselves… because in the end, at the time of signing up, no one is asked about their sexual orientation.”
In a country still defining its popular ego, people have the chance to impact upon this ongoing process in a way that tradition and longstanding opposition cannot prevent. Curiously, the stated aim of the EuroGames is to disappear. “Disappear in the sense that it will no longer be necessary to fight against homophobia, because homophobia won’t exist,” Àgatha responds. Joan Miró talks of evolution rather than a total disappearance. “We state that we want an end to discrimi- nation in sports. If that ever happens then EuroGames will have to reformulate: It will no longer be used as a visibility tool to fight against homophobia, but as a meeting point for people with shared interests.”
Attitudes change, prejudices are eradicated and discrimination is replaced by understanding; this is all part of the evolutionary process of human society. Spain is yet to fully reach this point, but through the determination of those looking to shape the country’s emerging identity, it is moving in the right direction far faster than many. And it’s worth remembering that a little over three decades ago, the same could not be said.
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