Julia Applegate left the two-day meeting in Montreal May 6 to fly home to Ohio, with the final proposal on the table from the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association ( GLISA ) to the Federation of Gay Games ( FGG ) in hopes of one merged LGBT-sporting event between the GLISA's World Outgames and the Gay Games for 2018.
"When I left to go to the airport, I thought [ the merged 2018 event ] was going to happen," Applegate, co-president of the GLISA board, said in an exclusive interview. "When we found out that the FGG Board did not agree to that last proposal, I was shocked, very upset and very surprised. I felt completely devastated and really, really upset that [ the agreement ] fell through at the very last moment. That was my personal response."
FGG and GLISA, which had been discussing a merged 2018 event for about two years, agreed to meet for 48 hours in Montreal—to finalize plans for 2018 or call them off. When the FGG board voted down GLISA's last proposal on May 6, which the GLISA board supported unanimously, the two organizations had reached the deadline for an agreement. At that point, GLISA sent out a mutually agreed upon press release saying that an agreement had not been reached.
"GLISA left the door open to the FGG to come back with an alternative proposal in 72 hours," Applegate said. "GLISA felt the proposal they returned with was not a good foundation for ensuring an equitable relationship going forward, so GLISA reverted back to the proposal from Sunday. FGG again declined that proposal."
So now it's two separate sporting LGBT events—as it's been since the 2006 Gay Games was held in Chicago and the 2006 World Outgames was held a few weeks later in Montreal.
The second World Outgames was held in 2009 in Copenhagen while the last Gay Games was held in 2010 in Cologne, Germany.
The third World Outgames will be held in 2013 in Antwerp, Belgium. Gay Games IV is scheduled for 2014 in Cleveland.
Kurt Dahl, who lives in the Chicago area and is the male co-president of the federation, was unavailable May 7 by phone for comment. He replied via text message: "Right now, I have no comment beyond what was in original press release. GLISA and FGG [ will ] continue talking. When there is more news, we will jointly communicate that."
"I am now coming to terms with it because I feel like we tried real hard, but, when it came right down to it, there just was not enough support for a games that, from the GLISA perspective, did not have enough support for an equitable [ joint ] arrangement," said Applegate, 41, who lives in Columbus, Ohio.
The Montreal powwow was a last ditch effort to form 1QE ( one quadrennial event ) , though both groups had been stuck on even getting a memorandum of understanding ( MOU ) to work together. Both FGG and GLISA sent four representatives to Montreal to advocate on behalf of their board's.
"The hope was, we could meet in Montreal and come to an agreement of an MOU and then go forward from there," Applegate said.
Each team came to the table with a set of non-negotiable elements for 1QE that needed to be mutually agreed upon, Applegate said.
Ultimately, "we just reached an impasse," she said, "and we weren't able to come to terms that felt comfortable for both organizations."
The biggest obstacles were revenue and the voting procedures, Applegate said.
"The FGG was bound to have the site-selection meeting for the 2018 [ event ] in Cleveland [ in 2013 ] ; that's part of the licensing agreement [ with Cleveland ] . GLISA wanted that site selection meeting to be held in Antwerp at the 2013 event," she said.
The voting method also was an issue.
GLISA uses electronic voting and proxy voting. FGG did not want to accept that style of voting, she said. "So, GLISA accepted doing a site-selection meeting in Cleveland, but just as long as we're able to vote electronically because, likely, our membership will be unavailable to attend a site-selection meeting in 2013 in Cleveland."
The voting issue was never resolved.
There also was an issue around revenue split, she said.
"The FGG wanted to do an independent assessment of each organization's value, and then do the revenue split from the host city, based on that independent assessment," Applegate said. "GLISA was in agreement with that up to a point; we felt we needed to take on a certain level of shared risk in doing a 2018 [ event ] . …. We had different perspectives on where those [ revenue ] percentages should fall and when the revenue split should happen."
One thing that was not an issue was, the name for the 2018 event, she said.
"We agreed a long time ago … the Gay Games was adamant that Gay Games needs to be part of the name, and GLISA said that's fine," Applegate said. "Ultimately, it was suggested, and agreed, to be: 'Together 2018- Gay Games X, Outgames IV'.
"The [ name of the 2018 event ] was not a sticking point at all."
Applegate, a former Division I college swimmer, has participated in three Gay Games and two World Outgames. She has won multiple medals at every event. Her partner is Liv Gjestvang and they have one son, Karsten Applegate.
"We responded, at least in part, to what the global LGBT community said it wanted," that being a joint event in 2018, she said. "We came together to try to create a unified event.
"However, I don't think the global LGBT sporting community would benefit from joint games if they're not joint in every sense of the word.
"We were very close. We are much closer than it appears, but there wasn't enough [ support ] from the FGG for the final proposal on the table—and that was the proposal that GLISA felt was most equitable and would allow us to move forward in the spirit of true cooperation."
So now, the next possible 1QE will be in 2022—and Applegate is certain talks will resume, at some point.
"I just don't think it's sustainable for either organization to continue to do separate events," she said.
