Background
In accordance with the Gay Games principle of Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best (TM) the Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010 welcome all people regardless of gender identity and seeks to provide a diverse and friendly environment free from all forms of harassment.
Gender identities include male, female, transgender, and intersex. A transgender person is someone who was born anatomically male or female, but has a strong and persistent bona fide identification with the gender role other than that assigned at birth. A transgender person may or may not have had metreatment to transition to their chosen self-identified gender. Persons with intersex conditions have been born with reproductive organs and/or sex chromosomes that are not exclusively male or female. A person with an intersex condition may identify as male, female, both, or as intersex.
This policy is based on the general Federation of Gay Games gender identity policy.
Accreditation Criteria
All participants registered for the Gay Games are provided an Accreditation Pass that is required for access to Gay Games events. Participants that are registered in sports that organized under male and female divisions will be asked to choose in which division they wish to participate. Participants are required to supply legal documentation such as passports, birth certificates, or other identification documents to verify identity at Accreditation. The person’s gender as recorded on these documents will generally determine how the person is accredited, unless certain conditions are met.
When a participant’s identity documents record their gender to be different from the one in which the person wishes to participate, and the sport they are registering for can accommodate them without creating an undue safety risk and without breaching any required sanctioning rules*, they will be accredited for participation under their chosen or self-identified gender if one of the following two conditions are met:
- A letter from a medical practitioner is provided stating that the participant has been actively involved in hormone treatment for a minimum of two full years
The definition of gactively involved means uninterrupted treatment over the period up to and including the beginning of the Gay Games unless there is a medical reason that may have resulted in short breaks from that treatment. Any breaks in treatment should be outlined in the medical practitioner’s letter. - Proof of the participant living as the self-identified gender for a minimum of two years.
Proof may be provided by legal documents indicating gender such as a driver’s license, passport, evidence of employment as the chosen or self-identified gender, personal letters, testimonials or statutory declarations, bank accounts, leases, property titles, etc.
Given the challenges that may be involved in changing legal documents in some countries, the accreditation officials may exercise discretion when evaluating the adequacy of the type of documentation provided for proof an individual's gender. All documents must be provided in English with certified translations into English.
Persons who satisfy these criteria will be accredited by the Gay Games host organization in accordance with their chosen or self-identified gender in their chosen events.
*Due to the inherent nature of full contact combat sports, there is a significantly higher risk of injury in mismatched bouts. For Gay Games VIII, only Wrestling is required by its sanctioning bodies to verify age, weight, and gender at pairing time. For this sport, age and gender verification can only be satisfied by birth certificates, drivers’ licenses, passports, or some other qualifying government issued document. Compliance with sanctioning requirements for combat sports enables them to significantly increase safety by allowing them to obtain affordable liability insurance, medical coverage for participants, and the services of licensed officials who are not permitted to work for unsanctioned events.
Performance Records, Sanctioning and Safety
In events where sanctioning allows participants to break records and where a transgender or intersex person with legal identity documents which differ from the accredited gender breaks a record in one of these events, the appropriate sporting body or association has the authority to determine how the performance is recorded.
All sports include rules that are intended to maximize fairness and minimize risk of injury. These rules tend to group persons with similar strength, experience and prowess together, in one on one or team events. In events that involve body contact, the technical officials implementing the rules of the event have discretion in determining circumstances, which place participants at risk of injury and to take reasonable action to avoid such injury. Where a technical official at the event level is of the opinion there may be a risk of injury, or where they consider one participant may have an unfair advantage over another participant, subject to the rules of the particular sport, they may rule that an individual may not participate in that event/class/division.
Games Cologne will make its best efforts to encourage governing or sanctioning bodies and technical officials to recognize the participants according to their accredited gender.
Grievances and Appeals
For all questions grievances, and appeals related to the Gender Policy send an email with our ticket-system to the address.
Our coordinator will also be present at accreditation,
Participants who have a complaint about their treatment by Accreditation Officials or who wish to appeal a decision regarding the gender recorded for accreditation may seek to have their grievance or appeal heard by the official designated by the host organization.
A participant who has a complaint arising from an incident as part of a sports or cultural event or in relation to the rules of a specific sport or the behaviour or decisions of a technical official should first seek to resolve the issue through the sports or cultural organization’s own grievance and appeals process. If there is no satisfactory resolution, the person could raise the issue with the official designated by the host organization.
Privacy and Confidentiality
The accreditation process will be conducted in a private environment. All information and documentation provided by participants will be treated as confidential.
