I fully believed that I had signed up for Gay Games VII in Montreal, when suddenly I found my registration transferred to Chicago along with the whole shebang. Meanwhile Montreal on its own decided to host the first Outgames. Both Olympic-style events happened back-to back in the hot July of 2006. How all this came about is too complicated for me to understand, much less explain to you. Since both organizations plan to continue holding competitions every four years, they must believe that there is enough interest in sports in our community to float both their boats. I personally have neither the stamina nor the finances to attend both, this year or in the future, and so I was curious how they matched up.
      As luck would have it, my friend Al Perkins had gone to the Outgames in Montreal with some friends. On her return we met over coffee to compare experiences. Both of us are older lesbians who compete in track and field, having attended straight (or “don’t ask, don’t tell”) meets locally and around the country. For Montreal and Chicago, we had even chosen the same events: shotput, javelin, and discus.
      Al praised the Outgames, saying they were well organized and well run, with plenty of friendly and competent volunteers who went out of their way to be helpful. For example, she was particularly grateful to one who offered to keep her implements safely locked in his office overnight and deliver them next day to the site in time for competition, which he did. This contrasted with what she was told by a coach whose team went to Chicago first. He had been deluged with daily emails complaining about how things were handled there.
       I had to admit that I, and most people I spoke with in Chicago, had experienced some problems, not really critical issues but the kind that shake your confidence that the folks in charge know what they are doing.
      A buzz of rumors and suggestions then arise among the athletes concerned, and they help each other solve or cope with the situation, a bonding experience in itself. For example, two women spent several hours weighing and measuring everyone’s shot, discus, javelin and hammer. They were participants, not volunteers, and had their own competitions to consider, but those in charge had not provided anyone else able to do that essential task.
      Unlike Montreal, Chicago had never hosted a regular Olympic Games, and did not have the centralized, standard facilities nor the management experience that comes with that.
       However, the correctness of the organizers and the facilities was less important to me than the friendly, happy camaraderie of the participants themselves.
       One problem that came up at both venues, and is worth taking into account by anyone contemplating attending either event in the future, is the almost inevitable last-minute rearranging of the schedule. Airlines, hotels and your personal obligations are often inflexible, and so you may end up a no-show at an event for which you had planned and trained. Al missed out on her discus competition this way. Leave yourself an extra day or two if you can.
       As a longtime feminist, Al’s complaint about Montreal was that the scene was slanted toward the men. The advertising, the posters and pamphlets, the parties and events, seemed so geared to the tastes of gay men that she felt lesbians were almost invisible. Neither of us saw transgender presence acknowledged.
        Though I had noticed much the same in Chicago, I had attributed it not to bias, but to economic interests focusing on those with deeper pockets and more enthusiasm for public partying.
      Most of the athletes were men, which is true in the straight world as well. You can spend all your time following your favorite women’s softball team, or you can loosen up and enjoy watching the guys show off. The spandex index was off the charts, and I thought the barechested strutting and choregraphed warmup exercises alone were worth the price of admission; that is, if the gatekeepers at either place had bothered to check spectators for tickets.
      Compared to the straight meets, I find gay men in general much more accepting and supportive of women in sports, and particularly friendly to us older ones.
      Of course, Montreal and Chicago both had thousands of participants and dozens of events scattered all around those big cities. Even with the free transit pass I used in Chicago, or with the willing friends who drove Al about Montreal, we could sample only the tiniest bit of what was available and can make no claim that our experiences are typical.
      Both of us attended a musical competition each to sample the artistic side of the games. Al heard the choral groups and I went to the bands, both with high quality ensembles from around the world. We estimated that maybe a quarter of those attending in both cities were from outside North America, which is a treat in itself.
      During the Gay Games and the Outgames there was an ongoing block party atmosphere in the gay sections of town, and the crowds of the likeminded in the streets there made visitors feel welcomed and safe. In these fundamentalist times, no city will show you a 100 percent gay positive face, and I passed through religious picketers and ranters on occasion. Even in liberal Burlington, LGBTQ space is found mainly indoors or in secluded rural areas.
      If you decide to get yourself in shape and go to either Cologne or Copenhagen for the next round of Gay Games or Outgames, I think your most memorable experience will not be the gold medal around your neck, but the joyous celebration of thousands of members of our community.

Fran Moravcsik and Alverta Perkins are former board members of Mountain Pride Media.