The Logo of The Federation of Gay Games

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA, April 21, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Federation of Gay Games (FGG) is pleased to announce the Site Inspectors for the 2026 Games Host City selection process. Martha Ehrenfeld, Joan Mir?, R. Tony Smith and Annette Wachter were carefully chosen from over 50 worldwide applications. The team, led by FGG Officer of Site Selection, David Killian, will play a vital role in this final part of the bidding process.

Key responsibilities of site inspectors include traveling to the three finalist cities bidding for the 2026 Gay Games XII, Guadalajara (MEX), Munich (DEU) and Valencia (ESP) to review the venues, infrastructure and all other aspects of the bid organization, having a rounded understanding of FGG history, processes and quality standards, understanding the complexities of producing sports and cultural events, and assisting with the final report once inspections are complete.

Site Inspections take place in August 2021 and will feature live social media reporting from the bid cities. The team will present its official reports at the FGG General Assembly November 2021 in Hong Kong, where final voting will take place.

Martha Ehrenfeld, a native New Yorker, first volunteered with the Gay Games in 1994 and has attended 5 Gay Games. Currently an avid tennis player and occasional runner, she has dabbled in many sports including volleyball, basketball, squash, pickleball, triathlon, ice hockey, Nordic skiing and one unsuccessful curling adventure. Her FGG and Gay Games career since 1994 has included being a representative for Team SF to the FGG, part of the Cleveland GG9 Steering Committee, and co-chair of the FGG?s Sports Committee from 2012-2018. At the Paris Gay Games, she was involved in the scholarship recipients? end of week workshop, helping them plan how to take what they had experienced back to their country and create their own change through sport and culture. Martha and her wife Carla live in San Francisco.

Joan Mir? was born and raised in Barcelona but has lived in several cities in Europe and the USA. He has participated in several Gay Games since Amsterdam 1998, an experience that inspired him to create the LGBTI+ sports club Panteres Grogues in Barcelona in 2000 of which he was President until 2009. The club organized the 2008 EuroGames 2008 and Joan served as President of the Organizing Committee. Joan has also served as President of the IGLFA (International Gay and Lesbian Association) from 2002 to 2005. His current sports are running, soccer and padel tennis.

R. Tony Smith has been civically involved with boards, commissions, festivals, non-profit organizations and LGBTQ+ sports for 20 years and served the FGG Board as the International Champions Coordinator working to recruit worldwide athletes to the 2014 Gay Games, and then on the Board as the Officer of Communications from 2014-2018. Tony continues to play competitive volleyball and produce large scale sports events with the North American and Colorado Gay Volleyball Associations and serves on the Team Colorado Board of Directors. He has been married to his husband for 19 years.

Annette Wachter ran a strategy and organization consultancy in the Media sector for more than 20 years prior to retirement. Annette has been involved in LGBTQ+ causes for more than four decades, starting as the organizer for women's studies at the University of Cologne and Rhiannon, a cultural group for women. In the 1990s, Annette became treasurer of Sports Club Janus, the largest multisport club in Europe which led to her becoming Co-President of the Cologne Gay Games 2010. Annette became General Secretary and President of EGLSF from 2013-2021. She lives in Germany with her wife.

Gay Games 11 Hong Kong 2022 will take place 11th-19th November 2022. This will be the first time a Gay Games has taken place in Asia, and it will feature 36 sports, 14 cultural events and a rich calendar of cultural events for 12,000 participants and 75,000 spectators. Pre-registration is now open; for more information go to https://gghk2022.com/en/

The Gay Games has enormous impact on host cities in terms of culture, sport, economic impact, history, and most importantly furthering all matters of LGBTQ+ equality. The site selection process is one of the Federation?s most vital tasks, and the FGG takes great pride in the lengthy and thorough process.

Hosting the Gay Games: The positive financial impact to the host city of the Gay Games is clear, as evidenced by the official economic impact highlights from the 2018 Gay Games X in Paris: Total economic impact: US $117.9 million. Locals and non-locals contributed a total of US $72.7 million to the economy, in the areas of lodging, dining and entertainment, travel and other necessities, and tourism. An additional US $45.8 million was generated in local incomes ? roughly the equivalent of 1,429 full-time jobs. 23% of participants were from France (12% from Paris). 40% of local participants said they would have traveled outside Paris, France to participate in the Gay Games, taking their spend of US $9.2 million to another region.

About the Federation of Gay Games
Gay Games is open to all, and since its debut in 1982 it has continued to perpetuate the legacy of changing cultural, social and political attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people. A core principle of the Federation of Gay Games is ?Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best??. These principles will be represented next in 2022 at Gay Games 11 in Hong Kong. It has never been more important to stand up for the rights of the LGBTQ+ communities around the world.
The Gay Games was conceived by Dr. Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete, as a way to empower thousands of LGBTQ+ athletes and artists through sport, culture, and fellowship. It was first held in San Francisco in 1982. Subsequent Gay Games were held in San Francisco (1986), Vancouver (1990), New York (1994), Amsterdam (1998), Sydney (2002), Chicago (2006), Cologne (2010), Cleveland+Akron (2014), and Paris (2018). Gay Games 11 will be held in Hong Kong in 2022. Visit

Shiv Paul
Federation of Gay Gmes Inc
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