At Janny 's

Sunday June 19th. Fourth Day of the EuroGames in Utrecht.

Lady Mayor Annie Brouwer-Korf received ovational applause at the closing ceremony in Tivoli this afternoon. It is such a big deal. Especially when gay people organize in the public sphere, public support makes such a difference.

I think it is also very good, that the Netherlands has marriage opened for people of the same sex. Many gays and lesbians got married over the last few years. When they state their relationships with their partners, it is always with great pride when they mention their husband or wife. The public support for relationships that were illegal and still are illegal in many parts of the world makes the self-image and self-esteem of gay people move into a different arena. People who felt unwanted and worthless through the oppression, doomed to a life in secrecy and hiding, are now coming out proudly and declare themselves worthy members of society in general. Even discrimination and agony can be encountered more bravely with a public policy of support.

The EuroGames and its visibility in Utrecht cause a paradigm change. No matter the Fifa soccer championships for youth under 20 is taking place at the same time; the municipality supported Utrecht for hosting the EuroGames. It can of course happen in the same city at the same time. No hooligans disturbing the games or anything like it at all during the four days of the event. It was a big success. And it was a wonderful event, taking place because of cooperation between people of all genders and all ages, both in and out of the EuroGames organization and the wider city of Utrecht. It's businesses and locations, the commercial gay bars, the pop podia and the big buildings like the Winkel van Sinkel. All provided services, did a lot of work and overtime and helped the event become a good vibrant thing to be part of. Even on Sunday Afternoon the stalls of the merchandise and Savannah Bay were in Tivoli during the closing ceremony and Mariska's mother was working in the bookshop to provide for last minute customers.

At Janny's.... things are coming back to normal. My son just asked for his daily portion of French fries. The cats Cynthia en Layla have returned home. The guests from Hungary all left this morning for the brunch at the Winkel van Sinkel. They will fly home to Budapest at 20.00 hours. I had no athletes for breakfast... The women have not stepped into the living room at all. By the way... the Hungarian ballroom dancing couple won gold in section C on Friday. The other Hungarian couple, who stayed in Amsterdam and spoke no English, also won gold in their category D at the Latin dancing competition on Saturday. And in category A of the men's Latin competition, the winners were also Hungarian. They must be very proud.

This morning at 12.30 we had breakfast from the table I set for the guests on Friday Morning. We did not use it then. But also this morning I had only five minutes to eat the breakfast, because I wanted to be in time for the Closing Ceremony and not miss anything of it. Coen, the coordinator, did a terrific job and had to organize many things at the last minute. The choir stepped in to replace the athletes, who had been asked to carry the flags in the closing ceremony. They made fun with the bandages of gold, that they had to wear. Some made burka's from them. The choir sung and the djembe group did wonderful rhythms. It was a good show... a good ending of great four days. It was full house in Tivoli. Balloons beautifully arranged in the long corridor to the big hall of Tivoli. Tivoli is Utrecht's most famous Pop Podium and a great place to be in. It is an old convent, located at the canals. It also was an orphanage for a long time. Tivoli must stay. Please do not go to the newly built Musical Center that is planned for the future.

The program and the entourage were astounding. The balcony was full, also the ground floor covered with people. I spotted Joke Swiebel, a famous Dutch lesbian who has worked for the government as a professional for years to promote women's issues and is now a member of the European Parliament. Women like Joke Swiebel make all the difference in the world. Joke has been around for all the preparations of promoting both women's rights in general and gay and lesbian rights in particular. She was the woman behind the government officials when it came to women's right in the United Nations arena at the World Conferences about women in the UN framework. She is now the co-president of the Human Rights Conference that will precede the World Out Games in Montreal in Canada next year. You have no idea how many lesbians do important work behind the scenes everywhere in the world. Most of the time they are not visible as lesbians. They are only there as women.
But they are lesbians and without them the women's movement would not exist at all and the gay movement would be a bleak thing. Dear men. you can not do without us. Admit it. and honor your moms and dads for putting us in the world. What would a world be without gays and lesbians. We are central and we matter. no matter what the feeling might be inside our minds and hearts. We do not play a marginal role ever. Remember that when going back to your ordinary lives. We are good people and the world could not do without us.

Many participants find it difficult to choose between the Gay Games in Chicago in July in the summer of 2006 and the OutGames in Montreal in August 2006. The EuroGames gave both organizations equal space to promote their events. The Gay Games Chicago at the opening ceremony and the OutGames Montreal at the closing. They both had stalls at the Village. I have collected all flyers and I can not make out the difference really.

As an ex-participant of the Gay Games, I would think I am in favor of Chicago. The Gay Games have built up years of experience in organizing a wonderful event for gay people of the globe. Their outreach program is outstanding. During my time in New York City in 1994, an enormous amount of groups from all over the world had gathered in the city and had their international annual event at the same time as the Gay Games. The city of New York buzzed with gayness. Even all the ordinary New Yorkers felt the different spirit that was about the city. The gay men and lesbians of New York City could move more freely and everybody spoke to eachother on the subways and in the busses. Any time I spotted a Gay Games participant with the membership card around the neck, I spoke to them openly. They were all so happy to have the Gay Games in New York eleven years ago.

The same happened when Amsterdam hosted the Gay Games in 1998. It was a wonderful event. Lady Mayor Annie Brouwer was involved, because her city Amersfoort hosted the swimming tournament in 1998. Amsterdam was also an event that brought together people involved in the unions around gay issues from all over the world. A very big and outstanding conference around labor issues preceded the Gay Games in 1998. Even gays in the military are organizing around their rights in the Netherlands. I spoke to Johan, a gay man from Utrecht who is a retired military officer. Johan was invited to Orlando a few years ago in 2002 to speak for an audience of gay rights activists. He described how his audience listened with open mouths when he told them about gay military organizing in the Netherlands. It was a thing unheard of in other countries, especially the USA. I think this shows again, how important Dutch gay men and lesbians are for the world community of gay people. We may not be the best in everything, but we are pretty good people. We have a perspective that is useful and helpful in many areas of gay organizing. If we would only loose our modesty... We must stop making ourselves smaller than we are and give ourselves credit for the things we contribute. No more putting down of the achievement of any gay person or lesbian, transgender, transvestite or transsexual male or female ... never... ever.... anywhere again...

I want to give credit to Montreal 2006 OutGames as well. The organizing committee did an outstanding job of promoting both Canada and their games. As Dutch people we have the tendency to be suspicious of the USA and its dominance of the world. Don't blame gays and lesbians for what their governments do. I think we all need eachother and every initiative should be valued. When the gay and lesbian sports movement is growing as fast as the EuroGames, there is room for two events in the same summer. When the dollar stays so weak, travel to the USA and Canada will stay affordable for people from Europe.
I wish the OutGames Montreal 2006 all the best of luck, and I hope their local municipality will back them as much as Utrecht did. It will be their first time. I hope it will be just as good as it was here in Utrecht.

Thanks for a wonderful week. And thanks also for providing me with a space in the gay and lesbian arena. That has been my place for the majority of my life.

Janny Nieboer