Hong Kong may host the Gay Games in 2022

The Gay Games was first hosted by San Fransisco in 1982 and has quickly become the largest international sport and cultural gathering for athletes, musicians and artists. The host for the 2018 Gay Games will be Paris.

Now, the South China Morning Post reports that the federation behind the Gay Games may choose Hong Kong to host the games in 2022 in order to “shine a light on its poor same-sex rights record.”

Leviathen Hendricks, a board member and the international development officer for the Federation of Gay Games spoke to the Sunday Morning Post.

He said, “There is certainly an argument, often conjecture about why a particular city has won the bid to host in the past, and some cities have made that argument before ‘the Gay Games needs to come here because we need to improve LGBT rights in that area’ so that could be an element of someone’s decision to vote for a a particular host, to make a real human rights change in that area.”

Out, the LGBTI sports organisation behind the Gay Games has organised more than 230 events since it was founded and Dennis Philipse, the founder of Out told the Post that, “it is time to take the Gay Games back to its founding aims by planting a flag in fresh fields, where the promotion of its principles can have the greatest effect.”

The Post reports that, “With government backing and funding from the private sector, the LGBT sports group hopes to hold the opening ceremony at the Hong Kong Stadium.”

The 2022 host of the Gay Games will be announced in October 2017.

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