Out there at the Outgames

Rohit K. Dasgupta describes his days in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, as a delegate from India to the World Outgames, rocked this year by a bomb attack, but undeterred in spirit and brimming with the love of sport.

World Outgames Copenhagen

The 2nd World Outgames held at Copenhagen from 25th July to 2nd August this year has been one event I shall not forget. I attended it as a conference participant from Amsterdam, IGLYO summit. It brought together some of the finest activists, sportsmen and performers from all over the world under this umbrella of queer celebration.

On the first day of registration we were given a travel card which entitled us to free travel all over the city and a lot of free goodies and memorabilia. The opening ceremony was held in front of the city square and it would not be wrong to say that more than 50,000 people were there as spectators. As representatives of India, we walked carrying the national flag of India and the banner celebrating our sexuality and our country. We were met with a huge round of applause and appreciation as the six or seven of us walked down the stage with a proud smile on our face. There were almost seventy countries who were represented this year and it was really wonderful seeing the camaraderie between them. Following the inauguration, Ritt Bjeregaard the mayor of Copenhagen gave the welcome address and stressed on the need for unity in diversity and spoke at length about Copenhagen being one of the gay friendliest cities in the world. Right after this the theme song of this year ‘Freedom to Love’ was performed which drove the crowd to a frenzy.

World Outgames Copenhagen

The Outgames started officially the second day with an open air film screening. The theme was Bollywood and Deepa Mehta’s much acclaimed Fire was shown at the HC Oerstedparken with the added attraction of Hindi fusion music for the audience to revel to. Under a clear sky in the middle of lush, it was a beautiful experience. The next day had Milk being screened with Cleve Jones introducing the film and sharing anecdotes about Harvey Milk.

The international conference began on the 27th with speakers like Thomas Hammerberg, Pervez Sharma and Sunil Babu Pant speaking in the plenary sessions. The conference also had space for almost a hundred parallel workshop sessions which were open to the participants and delegates. IGLYO held three workshops and on the third day I along with the IGLYO presented the outcomes of the IGLYO conference on the best practices of youth activism in the context of sexual and queer rights. Other interesting workshops were taken by Maya Sharma and Sumit Baudh. The workshops covered a variety of themes which the main conference session did not always cover.

Members of the Indian contingent at the Outgames

Copenhagen had been completely transformed into this queer space with other events taking place all around the city. The Women Space, yoga, volleyball, The Outcities project (which showcased some of the gay friendliest cities of the world) and the Pride Parade kept the participants completely on their toes. The last day of my visit ended with a canal tour around the city holding my lovers hand and for the first time feeling free enough to be myself.

The Outgames allowed the assertion of that space and voice which remains muffled. It was a celebration of identity in its truest sense and the diversity even within the queer community was something that I would not have found out if I had not witnessed the unity as they form the seven colours of the rainbow.