Subject: 1998 Amsterdam Gay Games-Amnesty International Gay and Lesbian
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 19:40:09 +0100

THE 1998  GAY GAMES - Amnesty International Dutch Section
Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Programme     Amsterdam, 1-8 August 1998
                          (Embedded image moved to file: PIC17096.PCX)
                               "Friendship through culture and sports"

                (Abbreviated version for E-mail only)

Dear Reader,

This is to inform you of the special AI Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Programme during the 1998 Gay Games. This message contains information
regarding most of the (concept) initiatives and workshops that will take
place in order to underline the human rights dimension of the Gay Games
cultural and outreach programmes and to create networks and contacts with
activists and grassroots organisations all over the world.
Your help is essential in making this event a success! We need your active
cooperation in order to spread the good news and to make sure that gays and
lesbians in those parts of the world, who might profit from our outreach
and human rights programme and who are actively involved in furthering gay
and lesbian human rights in their own town, region or country, will receive
information about this world-wide event.
Please forward this message to whomever you think might be interested or
send me your ideas or contributions. Should there be any contacts whom you
feel we should inform directly, please let me know.
Please confirm receipt of this email and I hope to meet you in Cologne.

For general questions regarding the Amsterdam Gay Games please call the Gay
Games Callcenter:  + 31 20 427 1998 on
- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings from 6 pm to 11 pm Amsterdam
time;
- 12 noon to 5 pm New York time;
- 9 am to 2 pm San Francisco time;
- Thursday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon Amsterdam time;
- Sidney time: 8 pm to 10 pm;
For French assistance - Wednesday evening;
For German assistance - Friday evening; or
Internet: http://www.dds.nl/~gaygames

Regards,
Frank Stevens

Contents:
1.   Gay Games: History, Vision & Objectives
2.   Gay Games: Outreach, Programme, Conditions, Committee of Reference

Proposed Amnesty International activities: MiniWorkshops, Filmfestival
(partial), Human Rights Internet Caf?, activities in cooperation with other
organisations.

1.   Gay Games: History, Vision, Objectives.

Gay Games is an international sports and cultural event held every four
years with the goal of promoting world-wide emancipation of lesbian women
and homosexual men. This goal is reached through the organisation of
non-competitive cultural and sports activities, open to anyone irrespective
of sex, sexual preference, ethnic background or religion. The initiative
for the first Gay Games in 1982 was taken by Dr Tom Waddell who also
participated in the Olympics of Mexico.

Year	City	Participants	Theme
1982	San Francisco	  1,300	Challenge
1986	San Francisco	  3,500	Triumph
1990	Vancouver	  7,500	Celebration
1994	New York	10,300	Unity
1998	Amsterdam	15,000	Friendship

?To do one?s personal best is the ultimate goal of all human achievement? -
that is the basic idea of Gay Games as formulated by Tom Waddell.
Integration and emancipation of lesbian women and homosexual men is not the
primary aim. An internationally visible and inspiring lesbian/gay community
will, however, further integration and emancipation.

Starting from an entirely volunteer organisation in 1982, the staff of the
Gay Games became fully professional for the 1994 games in New York,
triggering broader mediacoverage, even from the straight media.The small
professional staff will be dependent on approximately 2,000 volunteers
during Gay Games Amsterdam.

2.   Gay Games: Outreach, Programme, Conditions, Committee of Reference

Gay Games Amsterdam will take place 1 - 8 August 1998, with equal emphasis
placed on sport and culture. Amnesty International's participation will be
explicitly mentioned as a special human rights programme within the
cultural part of events. Prime target groups are lesbian and homosexual
participants and visitors from the United States, Canada, Europe, the
Netherlands and heterosexual participants and visitors from Amsterdam/the
Randstad (Western Holland conurbation)/the Netherlands. Communication is
primarily aimed at lesbian women and homosexual men.

At the opening and closing days of Gay Games Amsterdam 1998, 50,000
visitors must be reached. Of these, 30,000 visitors will attend the
openingor closing ceremony which will be recorded by TV and broadcast in
the Netherlands, at least four European countries and the United States. On
the other days, 30,000 visitors at a minimum are required, with a minimum
of 15,000 paying visitors.
The working language during Gay Games Amsterdam 1998 will be English. All
publications before and during the event will be in English, with Dutch,
French, German and Spanish translations. Explicitly sexual and provocative
elements will be excluded.

All activities will take place in the city of Amsterdam. The main festival
location (Friendship Village) will be the area centering around the town
hall and the Music Theatre ('Stopera'); a number of activities will be
staged in Friendship Village which will act as a meeting place for
visitors. Sports and culture programmes will take place between 9 a.m. and
6 p.m., leaving ample time for recreation, meetings and social exchange.

Alongside the main programme, a number of parallel or secondary activities
have been  placed on the agenda:
- European QuiltTour for the End of Aids (Rainbow Tour);
- 1998 Conference on Trade Unions, Homosexuality and Work;
- Congress Queer Politics, Theories and Sports (Amsterdam University)
(as of  1 June 1997).

Partners in the cultural programme are:
- ?Community Art Programme?: Theatre School Amsterdam, Theater School
Festival, Rietveld Art School, Dutch Centre for Amateur Arts;
- ?Choir Festival?: Cooperating Dutch Choirs, Gay Choir ?Noot aan de Man?;
- ?Storytelling Festival?: Centre ?De Balie?;
- Women?s Festival: ?De Melkweg?;
- Performing Arts: Carr? Theatre, Municipal Theatre Amsterdam
(?Stadsschouw-burg?), Theatre ?Kleine Komedie?, Gay & Lesbian Baroque
Orchestra;
- exhibitions: Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Historical Museum,
and several other participating museums and art galleries.

With a view to stimulating world-wide emancipation and integration, 375
participants from a select number of countries or areas (Dutch Antilles and
Cura?ao, Third World and Eastern Europe), the ?outreach countries?, will be
invited.. Should a participant from an outreach country not be able to
attend the Gay Games Amsterdam 1998 because his financial resources are
insufficient, a contribution will be made in order to meet costs of
accommodation, participation and travel expenses. Low cost housing will be
made available for participants from outreach countries. Official funding
by the Dutch government and EC institutions is to be expected while the
Dutch Foreign Office has earmarked a substantial subsidy per outreach
participant.

The Gay Games Outreach Group is an independent, policy-making committee
consisting of 7 volunteers, including Maud Bredero (AINL Press Officer) and
Frank Stevens (AINL Outreach Dept). The Committee of Reference consists of
98 persons representing the fields of sports, culture, lesbian and gay
movements, politics, industry, media and other areas releavant to the Gay
Games (see below).

3.   Proposed Amnesty International activities: MiniWorkshops,
Filmfestival,
     Human Rights Internet Caf?, partly in cooperation with other
     organisations

A number of ?MiniWorkshops? will be staged, based on three main objectives:
?    the character and concept of Gay Games are not conducive to highly
scientific disputes and the ?human rights and homosexuality? issue is
likely to cause many an eyebrow to be raised or even to provoke distaste
amongst average pleasure-seeking visitors. On the other hand, the Gay Games
will provide an excellent forum to present AI?s work and the issue of
world-wide gay and lesbian human rights violations to the international gay
and lesbian community. Consequently, the aim must first and foremost be to
do some creative networking for future use; participation in these
workshops must be attractive and above all ?fun?;
?    the agenda of every individual workshop must lead to a final statement
or short paper, in order to safeguard continuity and facilitate the
production of copy for later Gay Games memorial publications;
?    there must be follow-ups to these workshops during future Gay Games,
or ILGA conferences, or within national gay and lesbian (AI) groupings, or
networks, or gay and lesbian organisations in general.

Every MiniWorkshop will be chaired and coordinated by an acknowledged
insider or expert in the issue discus-sed. A sufficient number of  Dutch or
European participants must subscribe in advance. Officially sponsored or
subsidised outreach visitors may subscribe by return mail . During the Gay
Games themselves visitors or participants will be able to join a
MiniWorkshop of their choice at short notice. In principle, the number of
participants will not exceed 25.

Proposed Amnesty International Dutch Section Human Rights Programme:

1.   MiniWorkshop Homosexuality & The Law
2.   MiniWorkshop Homosexuality & Refugees
3.   MiniWorkshop Homosexualities, Globalisation and Amnesty International
4.   MiniWorkshop Human Rights and AIDS/HIV
5.   MiniWorkshop Coming Out
6.   Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Internet Caf?

Proposed AI Fringe Programme (in cooperation with other organisations):

7.   MiniWorkshop Gay and Lesbian Theater
8.   MiniWorkshop Gay and Lesbian Fundraising
9.   MiniWorkshop Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian History

Proposed AI activities in cooperation with the AI Dutch Section
Audiovisueel Dept:

10.  (Part of) Amnesty International Film Festival in cooperation with
'Roze               Filmdagen'
11.  Gay and Lesbian Activists from 5 Cultures (Documentary)
12.  30 Seconds Screen Quilt (Video Documentary)

1)   MiniWorkshop Homosexuality & The Law

This MiniWorkshop will survey various national constitutions as well as the
codification of sexual rights. A new path has been shown by the South
African Constitution, as well as legislation in a number of  Northern
European countries. This is also the place to elucidate current and future
EC human rights legislature. The aim is primarily to ensure future means of
assembling information concerning human rights violations, to highlight
lobbying strategies and tools, to provide strategies for action by and for
the benefit of gay and lesbian human rights organisations and groups in
other countries, to exchange views and experiences by and for the benefit
of lawyers and networks of specialists and parliamentarians. Actively
influencing the legislative process in a country (e.g. South Africa,
Tasmania) is to be put on the agenda as well. The Gay & Lesbian Human
Rights Internet Caf? and its communication resources are to be used
extensively. This is a follow-up to ?Breaking the Silence?,  the AI UK
Section?s report published in 1997.

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

2)   MiniWorkshop Homosexuality & Refugees

The homosexual or lesbian asylum seeker?s specific problems will be the
focus of this MiniWorkshop. Limitations of asylum law, attitudes and
possible reactions of government officials of both the home and asylum
countries, specific problems of dealing with and assisting asylum seekers -
in Europe and elsewhere - will be part of the discussion between
specialists, professionals, (ex-) refugees and other interested parties.
Reasons for this MiniWorkshop are, among others, AI?s 1997 Refugee Campaign
and the recent interest shown in the Dutch (gay, lesbian and straight)
media, as well as the recent publication of Lutz van Dijk's book ?Coming
Out? (Tamar Laakmann House/Anne Frank Foundation). Contributors to the book
and ex-refugee contributors to ?Breaking the Silence?, the video
documentary of the AI Dutch Section, will participate.

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

3) MiniWorkshop Homosexualities, Globalisation and Amnesty International

A MiniWorkshop highlighting Amnesty International?s mandate and history
vis-?-vis homosexuality explains and scrutinises the mandate, its limits
and AI standard procedures. The Gay Games provide a unique opportunity to
discuss AI?s work on human rights and homosexuality with people from the
countries and Sections where AI and its resources often are in dire need.
What can and can't be done? What should and shouldn't be done?
This MiniWorkshop is the right vehicle to explain AI?s policy to a large
audience, to try to remove still extant distrust within the gay and lesbian
community, to reduce apparent unfamiliarity with or even ignorance of
human rights issues concerning homosexuality and to (try to) expand AI gay
and lesbian networks.

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

4) MiniWorkshop Human Rights and AIDS/HIV

The issue of  Human Rights and AIDS/HIV has been discussed only
occasionally within the media, but will - in all probability - become
prominent over the next few years; discussion within AI has been going on
for several years but is neither consistent nor comprehensive. This
MiniWorkshop should be a forum to discuss - in view of possible legal or
governmental reactions, as well as the present state of affairs - the
AIDS/HIV policies of governments and (state) insurance organisations, the
human rights of people infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS now and the
millions of people to be infected in the future in those countries in Asia,
Africa and Eastern Europe (Russian Federation) whose human rights records
are questionable.
Unlike most European countries  where AIDS and HIV were often linked to
homosexuality, this is no longer the case everywhere. HIV and AIDS have
become ?straight? issues. Nevertheless, many gay and lesbian human rights
activists founded the largest AIDS and HIV organisations in existence and
paved the way for assistance to a generation of  non-gay patients. These
are important networks and expertise which AI cannot afford to neglect.

This MiniWorkshop is, however, to be no more than a ?think tank?and cannot
go beyond strictly ?reconnoitring? (as concerns  AI?s mandate) one of the
many future battlefields. It is to be seen as supplementary to action by
other NGOs which deal with the right to protection of personal integrity
and health, the availability of contraceptives for homosexual men and
lesbian women and adequate social care as a fundamental human right, since
this issue (as yet) has not been included in the mandate.

Cooperation with:
 (List available on request)

5) MiniWorkshop Coming Out

Human rights are universal and comprehensive, in theory. Within the
charter, however, the right to sexual self-determination is a poor
stepchild. In most countries there is no way young homosexuals and lesbians
can grow up and become happy adults without undergoing stigmatisation and
(government) repression; in this respect, young homosexuals and lesbians
are orphans, in their own families as well as the society in which they
live. Positive identification does not exist, truly liberal and stimulating
means of building friendships and relationships are non-existent, apart
from a few highly developed countries or a number of big cities. Can we
offer any help and assistance to homosexual and lesbian youths in order to
find their own way in cultures and areas where isolation is inevitable? How
can we  stimulate young gays and lesbians to claim their rights and to
find, if need be, their way to NGOs like Amnesty International? They are
the international gay and lesbian nation of the future!

This MiniWorkshop is linked to the Storytelling Festival, as well as the
book ?Coming Out? (with a foreword by Amnesty International).

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

6) Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Internet Caf?

An ?internet caf?? with 10 to 20 (temporary) internet sites, 10 to 20 caf?
tables, waiters and 10 to 20 ?hosts?/instructors- in cooperation with an
internet provider or producer of  internet equipment or computer hard or
software - serves 2 aims:
1.   a forum for international and national communication concerning gay
and lesbian human rights and human rights violations;
2.   an organisational and marketing tool for Gay Games and Amnesty
International, offering daily bulletins and communication facilities.

Options for cooperation with:
(List available on request)

Proposed AI Dutch Section Fringe Programme in cooperation with other
organisations:

7) MiniWorkshop Gay and Lesbian Theater

Theater  and (documentary) film offer the means to focus on or to highlight
the  cultural  (sociological,  psychological  etc.) implication of gays and
lesbians,  i.e. the societal phenomenon of homosexuality in general, within
the  framework  of  a  particular culture to a general audience by gays and
lesbians  living  in that particular culture. (Street) Theater and film are
public  forums  of  discussion  as well as entertainment. Artists often are
mediators,  people possessing the gift to take on another persona. Gays and
lesbians  play a prominent role in the arts; they too are used to taking on
other  personae,  even  in  everyday life. Theatrical people,  documen-tary
makers  and artists in general  are superbly apt to put other life forms in
the limelight, to ?discuss? other ways of living on stage. Numerous are the
names  of  the great and the not so famous who challenge conventional norms
and  values,  who  open many closets to a large audience. What difficulties
must  theater and film makers overcome, what is Western, what is not? Where
are the opportunities for cooperation and exchange of ideas between theater
and  film  makers,  producers,  actors,  artists  from  different cultures?
Amsterdam is the home of a number of artists of renown who are most keen to
exchange their views with others.

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

8) MiniWorkshop Gay and Lesbian Fundraising

Human rights activism does not come cheap, a reality not new to gay and
lesbian human rights activists. European and American style activism differ
in their ways of coping with never-ending pecuniary difficulties. Still,
funding or subsidies can be found, often from quite unexpected sources or
benefactors. Canadian and American gays and lesbians have many lessons to
teach their brothers and sisters elsewhere. In Europe, gays and lesbians
are currently learning the ropes with EC and national funding often
overlooked, while EC funding often is also earmarked for outreach countries
and their specific needs - often unknown to the intended recipients. A
number of projects - last but not least within an AI context - might be
realised, if only the right funding methods could be used. And ... are gays
and lesbians really those well-off ?DINKS? (Double Income, No KidS) eager
to provide financial support for human rights actions? Here?s the chance to
talk with experts in commercial gay media and gay business, with
fundraisers and the people who know the dos and don?ts AND the people who
need funding.

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

9) MiniWorkshop Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian History

Museums, universities, schools and the media are all important filters of
our cultural and political heritage. However, their construct of 'our', gay
and lesbian history in both the past and present is often not mentioned at
all or only insufficiently. In many countries, gay and lesbian persecution
is justified by cultural beliefs: that gay and lesbian culture is 'foreign'
to the respective country's history. For that reason, gay and lesbian lives
are treated as incompatible with the country's past and present: Gays and
lesbians are treated as 'foreign', 'Western' or simply 'non-human'. That
gay men and lesbian women have been an integral part of history and that
their very different histories have intermingled with, shaped, influenced
or coloured the mainstream history of
their respective countries is an important lesson against their exclusion
as 'foreign' or 'asocial'. Mainstreaming gay and lesbian histories in their
respective countries is a decisive measure to question the cultural and
political attitudes that legitimise their persecution and social exclusion.

- Zimbabwean gays and lesbians, in their struggle against President Mugabe?
s hate speech, refer to the fact that there are words in their native
languages that suggest the phenomenon is older and not an imported Western
disease.
- Japanese gays and lesbians refer to their own, forgotten literary
heritage and customs before 1868 (the forced military opening of Japan by
Commodore Perry) and documentation from famous gay sh?guns and emperors.
- In the documentation centres and museums on the sites of former
concentration camps, little if any information is displayed on the fate of
the men with the pink triangle - despite the fact that the Nazi persecution
of gay men was documented immediately after 1945 in testimony by survivors
and reports by liberators. Only recently has a process begun to integrate
their fate into the exhibitions and educational mandates of mainstream
Holocaust museums .

This mini-workshop has been designed to develop cultural and political
strategies that did or could prove to be beneficial in the mainstreaming of
gay and lesbian history. It recognises the great differences between many
western and non-western countries in this field, but looks
for ways of cooperation and exchange on how to oppose the exclusion of gay
men and lesbian women from a collective past and - for that reason - often
a collective present.

This workshop will be organised by Klaus Mueller, staff member of the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and affiliated with the University
of Amsterdam, in possible cooperation with other organisations like the
Goethe Institute, Amsterdam. It is a follow-up to an earlier seminar on gay
and lesbian and human rights organised by the Dutch Section in 1995 on WWII
?Forgotten Fates? .

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

Proposed activities in cooperation with the AINL Audiovisual Dept:

10)  Amnesty International Film Festival (partial)

Scheduling of documentary film productions regarding human rights and
homosexuality with links to other Gay Games events and AI MiniWorkshops. At
the same time this is to be a forum for recent and contemporary productions
within the AI mandate.

Cooperation with:
(List available on request)

11) 5 Gay and Lesbian Activists from 5 Cultures

A video interview documentary featuring 5 leading gay and lesbian activists
of the 90s, providing an insight into the world-wide diversity of same-sex
lifestyles, everyday living conditions and the urgency of contemporary
campaigning in 5 cultures/countries, as well as their grassroots gay
liberation movement at the end of the millennium.

(Information available on request)

12) 30 Seconds Screen Quilt

In an ?endless? number of 30-second video shots, people from different
countries and cultures introduce themselves, ?en-face?, against a
background chosen by or agreeable to him/her, indoors or outdoors. Each
person will say only one sentence, not more, which ideally should relate to
his or her personal gay, lesbian or transgender identity or experience, be
it positive or negative, important or trivial. All individual shots will
form an endless ?stream of gay and lesbian conscience?. This ?Quilt? will
be edited and enlarged previous to, parallel to and after the Amsterdam Gay
Games. It will constitute a document with a unique international dimension,
testifying to the universality of homosexuality and lesbianism. As long as
this ?Quilt? is evolving, it will run in its entirety as an endless or
continuous performance on video at several locations, at the Amnesty
International Film Festival, the location of the MiniWorkshops, the
Internet Caf?, etc. and will be linked to the Coming Out MiniWorkshop.

(Information available on request)

1998 GAY GAMES AMSTERDAM FOUNDATION
COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE
(Available on request)

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*
Frank Stevens
Amnesty International Dutch Section
Keizersgracht 620
1017 ER  Amsterdam
The Netherlands
voice mail: + 31 20 626 44 36 (wait for recorded message, then type) 228
phone: + 31 20 626 44 36 extension 228
fax: + 31 20 624 08 89
email: [email-masked]
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