More than 12 thousand athletes started today, 27/7, the 1st OutGames, an Olympics that aims to be an alternative for athletes from the GLBT community. Traditional modalities, such as marathon, synchronized swimming, basketball and Greco-Roman wrestling will go hand in hand with others, let's say, peculiar ones, such as square dancing and the best erotic leather clothing or sadomasochism. Parallel to the games, the conference “The Right to Be Different” takes place, which aims to discuss and promote the human rights of gays, lesbians and transgender people and include the topic on the UN Human Rights agenda. “The goal is to obtain an official declaration from the United Nations, calling for recognition of gay rights. There are rights for children, women, people with special needs, but not for gays”, said the director of Out Games, Louise Roy. Another big hope of the event is to increase tolerance in sports. “Homophobia is rampant in professional sports. The locker room mentality says that we cannot thrive in a virile, masculine world. Showing a feminine side is considered a sign of weakness and makes us vulnerable to attacks”, Mark Tewksbury, co-president of the Games, told Montreal magazine “LActualité”.
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