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“They realize the importance of giving back.” “People hear about us, and even if they’ve been out of wrestling for years, they get involved again,” Brigham says with pride. The Don Jung Hall of Merit honors the sport’s LGBT pioneers.Īs it looks back, WWB inspires wrestlers in unexpected ways. A comprehensive page on the Web site () explores wrestling’s role in both the Gay Games and the birth of the LGBT sports movement. WWB has also taken a lead in documenting the history of gay wrestling. “We worry about ‘event fatigue.'” WWB has drafted an online petition to keep the Gay Games “the premier global LGBT sports-cultural event.”
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“It’s hard to fill all the classes, and it’s asking a lot to travel internationally so often,” he says. Wrestling – a sport that does not attract wealthy participants, and that needs a critical mass of athletes in each weight class to run an effective tournament – has been hit hard by the Gay Games-Outgames schism. The World Outgames – an upstart organization that began in 2006 in Montreal, continued in Copenhagen in 2009 and now plans a 2013 event in Antwerp – has diverted focus from all gay sports, Brigham says.
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Yet despite the growth, all is not well in the gay wrestling world. When you wrestle you know a man’s character, and he knows yours,” Brigham says, explaining the ease with which gay and straight wrestlers get along. When the Chicago Wrestling Club hosted a WWB event the following year, Michael was a primary backer. Yet Michael grew emotional when he told Golden Gate members how respected they made him feel – “not like a has-been or washed-up old guy,” Brigham says. He loved the atmosphere his wife was treated well – and a year or so later Michael returned for a tournament. The next year, on a trip to San Francisco with his wife, he visited a practice of the Golden Gate Wrestling Club. A Chicagoan, he was intrigued by the 2006 Gay Games. His friendship with Jim Michael provides an excellent example of such support. “Our clubs have a higher percentage of straight athletes than other sports organizations,” Brigham notes. The Chicago organization joined counterparts in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, London, Paris and Sydney.Īllies are a crucial part of Wrestlers Without Borders. When the games ended, they threw their support behind the formation of a gay wrestling club in Chicago. “We’ve gained acceptance and broken down barriers.”Īt the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago, some of the sport’s top national officials became vocal advocates of WWB’s all-encompassing approach. “Everywhere we go, mainstream organizations are impressed by our professionalism,” Brigham says. That, in turn, led to an impressive wrestling presence at the 2002 Sydney Games.Īlong the way, WWB has served as an ambassador for gay wrestlers. Four years later, in Amsterdam, WWB helped introduce gay wrestling to many Europeans. In 1994, the group worked with New York organizers to include women’s wrestling in the Gay Games, says WWB chair Roger Brigham. And it offers help to any group or individual new to the sport. Its Web site provides a clearinghouse for LGBT wrestling events. WWB has helped push wrestling to the forefront of the Gay Games. Its focus is on gay clubs and events, though it welcomes any group that shows “a commitment to wrestlers of all ages, genders and orientations in a safe, non-elitist environment.” Wrestlers Without Borders – dedicated to promoting the freestyle and Greco-Roman versions of the sport – has grown into an international umbrella organization for wrestling clubs. Realizing that no one would help them except themselves, they formed a coalition. That galvanized the small but intense gay wrestling community. Organization was so haphazard, longtime devotee Gene Dermody paid $300 of his own money to get mats in place for competition. At the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver, wrestling was an afterthought.