World Outgames
[4][5][6] For the first World Outgames, the organization, and officials from the City of Montreal, the Province of Quebec and the Government of Canada welcomed representatives from 111 countries: 10,248 athletes to participate in games from 29 July to 5 August, alongside 1516 participants for an international conference on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights, including Workers Out.
Major sponsors included SAS, HIVOS, IBM, Wonderful Copenhagen, Gay Times and the EU "For Diversity.
[7] 31 out of the 34 sports disciplines were sanctioned by national or international specialist associations, who approved the use of their rules, regulations, and qualified judges and referees.
In a controversial move, the organisers emailed participants in the morning of the 26th to say “It is with deep regret that due to financial challenges, World OutGames must cancel opening and closing ceremonies and sports programming with the exception of aquatics, country western dance and soccer.
Many athletes had just arrived to the news and felt lied to in response that they invested hundreds or thousands of dollars to travel for their sports competition that would never take place.
Events were to include badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, billiards, bodybuilding, bridge, cheerleading, chess, country western dance, cycling, dance, darts, diving, dominos, field hockey, flag football, golf, indoor volleyball, martial arts, netball, poker, rowing, rugby, running (5k, 10K, half- and full-marathon), soccer, softball, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, track & field, triathlon, water polo and wrestling.
Many sports including Track and Field, Basketball, Tennis, Volleyball and Bodybuilding did have a competition, with no help or support from Outgames Miami or GLISA.
Other sports including 5k, 10k, half/full marathon, cycling and triathlon were cancelled due to non-payment from Outgames Miami to the production companies hired to organize the events.
The International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics and International Gay and Lesbian Football Association organized their respective sports as a part of their annual championships and thus kept Outgames Miami at an arms-length in the organization to ensure a successful tournament without Outgames Miami's participation.
Culture Various cultural happenings had been planned over the 10-day long event, including opening and closing ceremonies (which were cancelled less than 24 hours before the start of the opening ceremony); live entertainment and concerts; art exhibits; band competitions; choir competitions; community events; and a film festival.
However Outgames Miami is under investigation for financial fraud and embezzlement due to their sudden cancellation of the Sports program and significantly lower than expected turnout.
The FGG awarded Gay Games VII to Chicago Games, Inc. Based on a survey LGBT sports enthusiasts and the support of several financial partners, the Montreal organizing committee decided to proceed to hold an athletic and cultural event, with a human rights conference, without the sanction of the FGG.
This plan developed into the first edition of the World Outgames, and the creation of its sanctioning body, the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association.
After Chicago drew approximately 12,000 participants, Montreal 10,248 athletes, 1,516 Conference Attendees and 835 people to the cultural component of the games.
Since 2006, the need for a secondary global multi-sport event has been the subject of much debate, especially after the final financial figures for 2006, 2009, 2013 Outgames were released (still waiting on the results of the fraud investigation from Miami 2017).
