The 1st World Outgames took place in

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

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from July 26, 2006, to August 5, 2006. The international conference was held from July 26 to the 29. The sporting events were held from July 29 to August 5.

History

The event evolved out of a dispute concerning spending for the 2006 Gay Games (formally called Gay Games VII), which Montréal had been awarded. However, the Gay Games sanctioners ( Federation of Gay Games) and Montréal 2006 quarrelled over the budget and scale of the Games and the amount of control each party would exercise; subsequently, the FGG parted company with Montréal, awarding the games to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It was the second major multi-sport sporting event that Montréal had hosted since the Montréal Olympics in 1976. It used facilities from the Olympics and those from the 2005 World Aquatic Championships, the previous major multi-sport event in Montréal. The Outgames Montréal 2006 were larger than the 2006 Gay Games in number of events and amount spent but not in the number of participants. Unlike the Gay Games, the 1st World Outgames also included non-sport events, such as a Country-Western Dance competition (as well as exhibitions) and a Choral Festival that also had a competitive component. The event was held concurrently with Divers/Cité, the city's primary

LGBT pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility o ...

festival. The increased number of LGBT tourists in town for the Outgames had been expected to be a financial boon for Divers/Cité, but ironically that festival's attendance and revenues actually ''declined'' from previous years."Divers/Cite attendance plummets by 20%: Outgames 'weren't good for us financially'". ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', August 9, 2006. According to Divers/Cité director Suzanne Girard, "even if there were more people than usual, there were 10,000 more things to do." Later in the year, as a result of the financial impacts of the Outgames, Divers/Cité dropped its pride programming and repositioned itself as an arts and music festival, leading to the creation of the new

Fierté Montréal Fierté Montréal, also called Montreal Pride, is an annual LGBT pride festival in Montreal, Quebec. The event was founded in 2007 at the initiative of Montreal’s LGBTQ+ communities after the city's prior Pride festival, Divers/Cité, reposi ...

to take over as the city's pride festival."Gay pride parade is alive, well and marching". ''

'', June 28, 2007. A Quebec government audit revealed a CAD 5.3 million deficit for the 2006 Outgames on a CAD 15 million total budget on November 13, 2006. On December 7, 2006, Outgames Montréal 2006 filed for bankruptcy protection. Of the deficit, CAD 3.1 million was in loans from the governments of Montréal and Quebec, while the other CAD 2.2 million was due to private companies and individuals.

Organizing committee

* Mark Tewksbury, co-president * Marielle Dupéré, co-president * Paul Uline, Secretary * François Goulet, Director * Marie-Josée Malo, Director * Johanne Roy, Director * Pierre Côté, Director

International Conference on LGBT Human Rights

The Outgames Montréal 2006 included an ''International Conference on LGBT Human Rights'' immediately prior to the games themselves, from July 26 to July 29. With attendance of some 2,000 participants, it was the largest conference on LGBT rights ever held. The four-day conference consisted of five plenary sessions on the United States and Canada, Africa and the Arab World, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe, in addition to the opening and closing sessions. Keynote speakers included

Gérald Tremblay Gérald Tremblay (born September 20, 1942) is a former Canadian politician and businessman who served as mayor of Montreal from 2002 until his resignation in 2012. He also served as president of the Montreal Metropolitan Community. Before ...

Gene Robinson Vicky Gene Robinson (born May 29, 1947) is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson was elected Coadjutor bishop, bishop coadjutor in 2003 and succeeded as bishop diocesan in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he se ...

, Mark Tewksbury, Irshad Manji, Mariela Castro, Georgina Beyer, Waheed Alli,

Martin Cauchon Martin Cauchon (born 23 August 1962) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Quebec Canada. He served as a Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Cabinet of Canada, Cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien. He unsuccessfully ran for the 2 ...

Li Yinhe Li Yinhe ( zh, t=李銀河, s=李银河, p=Lǐ Yínhé; née Li Sanfan; born February 4, 1952) is a Chinese sociologist, sexologist, and activist for LGBT rights in China. Her main academic interests have been sexual norms in contemporary Ch ...

and

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...

Louise Arbour Louise Arbour, (born February 10, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, prosecutor and jurist. Arbour was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Pr ...

, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered an especially well-received speech at the opening dinner, which gave particular encouragement to the conference's goal of recognition at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. There were also more than a hundred workshops on more specific themes, as well as programmes of workshops on sport, business, and international affairs. The conference concluded with the issuance of the Declaration of Montréal on LGBT Human Rights, a declaration that will be submitted to the

Opening Ceremonies

Opening Ceremonies for the 1st Outgames Montréal 2006 were held at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, July 29, 2006. The performance was broadcast by

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

, Canada's national French-language public broadcaster. After the parade of nations, the Declaration of Montréal was read by Mark Tewksbury and Martina Navratilova.

, Mayor of Montréal, Line Beauchamp, Quebec Minister of Culture, and Michael Fortier, federal Minister of Public Works, represented the three levels of government; Fortier was loudly booed, reflecting anger among the LGBT community regarding the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government's stances on gay rights, including the announcement of a motion to reopen debate on the '' Civil Marriage Act'' and

same-sex marriage in Canada Same-sex marriage was progressively introduced in several provinces and territories of Canada by court decisions beginning in 2003 before being legally recognized nationwide with the enactment of the ''Civil Marriage Act'' on July 20, 2005. On ...

MontrealOpeningCeremony 2006 World Outgames

After the athletes' and officials' oath were taken by Charles Boyer and Diane Bandy respectively, Mayor Tremblay officially declared the Outgames open. Using the theme of "the circle", the concept of the show integrated music, song, dance, choruses, mass choreography and performances by the

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

. Artists who performed at the opening ceremonies included: *

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang (stylised in all lowercase), is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical pe ...

Martha Wash Martha Elaine Wash (born December 28, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the The Weather Girls, Two Tons O' Fun, along with Izora Armstead, as they sang b ...

Deborah Cox Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before ...

* Jonas * Sylvie Desgroseilliers * Diane Dufresne *

Venues

Over 50 venues in Montréal hosted events for the 1st World Outgames. Three main areas gathered most of the activities, the largest being the Claude Robillard Sports Complex, in addition to the Montréal Olympic Park and the Jean Drapeau Park. The Outgames used most of the venues built for the Montréal Summer Olympics of 1976. Other venues included the ''Golf Metropolitain Anjou'' for

golfing Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit a ball into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

, the ''Parc du Domaine Vert à Mirabel'' for

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

, the

Little Italy Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area, urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian cul ...

neighbourhood for the road cycling

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time, ...

, as well as various parks across the city for sports such as

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

. The Choral Festival took place at Salle Pierre Mercure from Tuesday, August 1, 2006, through Thursday, August 3, 2006. The main social and entertainment location for non-sporting events during the Outgames Montréal 2006 was located at the west side of Viger Square.

35 Sporting events contested including

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

Aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness (Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, Muscle, muscular strength, and ...

Billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

regatta *

Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

Figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

* Physique *

Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

*Outsplash

Participating teams

* English Bay Triathlon Club * Team Vancouver * Team Frankfurt a. M. * Tangra, Bulgaria * Melbourne Spikers Volleyball, Australia * Team Colorado * Melbourne Argonauts Queer Rowing Club, Australia * Equipe San Francisco, California, United States * London Spikers Volleyball Club, London, UK

Results

15 Participating Ensembles in the Choral Festival

* Ensemble Vocal Ganymède (Men's Choir from Montreal, Canada) / Director: Yvan Sabourin / Pianist: Dominic Lupien * Mélo'Men (Men's Choir from Paris, France) / Director: John Dawkins / Pianist: Michel Simard * Colla Voce (Men's Choir from San Francisco, U.S.) / Director: Steve Ng / Pianist: Doug McGrath * Ensemble Vocal Extravaganza (Mixed Choir from Montreal, Canada) / Director: François Monette / Pianist: Daphnée Boisvert * Mélo'Singers (Men's Choir from Paris, France) / Director: John Dawkins / Pianist: Michel Simard * Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir (Mixed Choir from Sydney, Australia) / Director: Sarah Penicka / Pianist: Gareth Chan * Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus (Mixed Choir from Manchester, England) / Director: Jeff Borradaile * Choeur Gai de Montréal (Men's Choir from Montreal, Canada) / Director: François Monette * Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Men's Chorus (GAPA) (Men's Choir from San Francisco, U.S.) / Director: Randall Kikukawa / Pianist: Desmond Tan * Combined Gay & Lesbian Choir of Australasia (Mixed Choir from Melbourne and Sydney, Australia; and Auckland, New Zealand) / Director: Jonathon Welch * Mexico Folklorigay* (Dance Company from Mexico) * Rainbow Symphony Orchestra* (Orchestra from Paris, France) / Director: John Dawkins / Soloist: Sonia Sasseville, contralto * Women's International Choir** / Director: Andrée Dagenais / Pianist: Nathalie Bellerive * Men's International Choir** / Director: John Dawkins / Pianist: Michel Simard * Mixed International Choir** / Director: Jeff Buhrman / Pianist: Michel Simard / Violinist: Don Dimmitt *Closing night concert only (non-competitive) **Consisting of singers from the 10 participating choruses, closing night concert only (non-competitive)

Members of the Jury

* Ms. Patricia Abbott, executive director, Association of Canadian Choral Conductors * Mr. Martin Dagenais, Choral Director * Mr. Jean-Sébastion Vallée, Choral Director

Choral Festival Results

Registration information and all subsequent printed materials for the Choral Festival indicated that Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals would be awarded to the top ensembles in three categories: Large Chorus, Medium Chorus, and Small Chorus (determined by the number of singers). However, at the Medal Presentations on Thursday, August 3, the following achievements were announced: * 1st Place Gold Medalists: Mélo'Men (a Medium Chorus) * 2nd Place Silver Medalists: Ensemble Vocal Ganymède (a Large Chorus) * 3rd Place Bronze Medalists: Mélo'Singers (a Large Chorus) * Honorable Mention (no medals): Colla Voce (a Small Chorus) Under the award decisions as published, Ensemble Vocal Ganymède should have been awarded the gold medal for Large Chorus; Mélo'Singers the silver medal for Large Chorus; and Colla Voce the gold medal for Small Chorus. The participating groups were not apprised of the change in rules in advance (or at any time), and when asked for an explanation after the ceremony, the organizers said the cost of so many medals would have been too prohibitive.

References

External links

1st World Outgames - Montréal 2006

Rendez-Vous Montréal 2006
o
OutSports.com

Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA)

(QueerSport.org) September 16, 2004
Asia Pacific Outgames Melbourne 2008 - Play With Your Neighbours!
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Outgames

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Sports competitions in Montreal Multi-sport events in Canada International sports competitions hosted by Canada LGBTQ history in Montreal LGBTQ events in Canada 2006 in multi-sport events 2006 in LGBTQ history 2006 in Montreal 2006 in sports in Quebec