The Gay Games are a sporting and cultural event hosted by the gay and lesbian community. They were started in San Francisco in 1982, the brainchild of Dr. Tom Waddell, whose goals were to promote the spirit of inclusion and participation, and the pursuit of personal best into a sporting event:
- The purpose of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) is to foster and augment the self-respect of lesbians and gay men throughout the world and to engender respect and understanding from the nongay world, primarily through an organized international participatory athletic and cultural event held every four years, and commonly known as the Gay Games.
The Gay Games are open to all who wish to participate, without regard to sexual orientation. There are no qualifying standards to compete in the Gay Games.
The Gay Games bring together athletes and artists from all over the world, many from countries where homosexuality remains illegal and hidden.
Gay Games VI in Sydney, Australia, was the largest sporting event in history, with over 14,000 participants taking part in over 30 sports and cultural events.
List of Gay Games
| Name | Location | Opening | Participants |
| Gay Games I - Challenge '82 | San Francisco | August 28, 1982 | 1 600 |
| Gay Games II - Triumph '86 | San Francisco | August 9, 1986 | 3 500 |
| Gay Games III - Celebration '90 | Vancouver | August 4, 1990 | 9 500 |
| Gay Games IV - Unity '94 | New York | June 18, 1994 | 11 000 |
| Gay Games V - Friendship '98 | Amsterdam | August 1, 1998 | 14 700 |
| Gay Games VI - Under New Skies | Sydney | November 2, 2002 |
The seventh edition was supposed to take place in Montreal in 2006, but the FGG removed their sanction after it and Montréal 2006 were unable to agree on the size of the games. Montréal 2006 announced its intentions to continue a Games without the sanction of the FGG; the official Gay Games may move to another city.
