Our Goals
LGBT Sport
Who Are We ?
The EGLSF and You
News
Calendar
LINKS
Here you'll find current news, scheduled events in Europe, and links to clubs and organisations. You can also add information to our online listings.
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President Fini meets Eurogames Medallists
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Goslings' 10th London Badminton Tournament
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Our Goals
The European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation was founded in 1989. Its aims are:
  • fight against discrimination in sport on grounds of sexual preference
  • stimulate integration in sport and emancipation of lesbians and gays
  • enable and support the coming out of gay and lesbian sports men and women
  • exchange information and enable co-ordination between European sport groups and tournaments
  • support the founding of new gay/lesbian/bisexual/straight/transgendered and mixed sport groups

    • We are a federation which is open to gay, lesbian, straight and mixed sport groups and organizations. At the moment this network has more than 10,000 members within over 100 organisations and sport groups. In the EGLSF all member organisations are autonomous: the Federation is operating as a servicing and co-ordinating body.

    We promote, amongst other things, the organisation of EuroGames, the European Gay & Lesbian Championships. The last EuroGames 2007 were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and the next EuroGames 2008 will be held in Barcelona, Spain.

    Our members are invited to join the General Assembly. This annnual Assembly is the highest decision making body of the Federation. The members of the EGLSF board are elected (for two years) by the General Assembly.

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    Lesbian, Gay, BiSexual & Transgender Sport

    You may ask:

    Why is it necessary to have special events and sports groups just for the LGBT community?

    The reasons vary from one country to another, since every country in Europe is different. However, most of us know it is not easy to come out about your sexuality in a 'regular' sports group. Some may even have been in situations where they felt harassed, were called names, or worse. They may have felt that by being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender they were not accepted by their fellow club members.

    LGBT sports groups experience the same discrimination when they want to compete in regular events or join existing sports associations. Did you know that in some countries it isn’t possible to rent a volleyball court if you say it’s for an LGBT event? We think this is not acceptable. Sport is supposed to be fun.

    We therefore need to work towards a climate in sports where people can be what they are, of their own free will, whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or straight. The EGLSF works towards that goal, together with LGBT mainstream organisations, like ILGA and others, as well as with European institutions like the European Council and the European Union.

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    EGLSF – Who Are We ?
    The European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) was founded in 1989 as a network of LGBT sports groups. Unlike today, it was difficult then to get into contact with other groups. Today, the EGLSF links over 100 groups, providing them with 'tools' to announce sport events, exchange information, discuss sports and much more!

    Every two years at the General Assembly, board members are elected. According to our Statutes and Bylaws, there can be maximum of eight board members: Male and Female Co-Presidents, General Secretary, Treasurer, and four Board Members at Large. Besides skills and knowledge, the composition of the board takes into account gender balance and geographic coverage.

    EGLSF haves representatives in European institutions, and several committees are also active; they work on specific topics, and report to the Board and the General Assembly. For detailed information on the current structure of the Board and the representatives, please vist the Contact page.

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    The EGLSF & You
    As a network of sports groups, we focus on their needs, but we also offer many services to individual athletes in Europe. We welcome new clubs, and here’s a short list of what we do.

    gaysport.info
    This is our popular website with over 350,000 visits per month; www.gaysport.info provides extensive information on LGBT sports in Europe including several databases like:

    Sports News, Events & Links
    We publish current news plus a calendar of all scheduled events in Europe. If you check out the online version, you will also find events outside Europe.

    Links & Address Directory
    You can find links to sports groups in your area or add your new website to this fine collection of links to LGBT sports groups. Visit our online Links & Address Directory.

    eglsf.info
    We have information and services published here online so you can find out about the work of the association.

    Reduced Fee at the EuroGames
    If you are a member of a sports club affiliated with the EGLSF, you pay less to participate in the EuroGames.

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