2009 World Outgames
Encyclopedia
The 2009 World Outgames, the 2nd World Outgames
, was hosted by Copenhagen
, Denmark
from July 25 to August 2, 2009. It was one of the largest international sports and cultural event ever held on Danish soil, with 8,000 people from all corners of the world expected to participate. The World Outgames addressed itself primarily, but by no means exclusively, to the homosexual community. The aim was that, once it was underway, the event would be perceived as relevant and welcoming for all inhabitants of Copenhagen.
Human Rights
from 27 to 29 July. Co-chaired by Rebeca Sevilla and Svend Robinson
, the conference included keynote speakers such as John Amaechi
, Virginia Apuzzo, Axel Axgil, Georgina Beyer
, Michelle Douglas
, Cleve Jones
, Sunil Babu Pant
, Parvez Sharma
, Wan Yanhai
and Copenhagen Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard
. The themes of the conference included human rights and politics, business, workers, culture and media, health, education, sport, family and relationships, and sexuality, pleasure, and body politics.
The conference concluded with the release of the Copenhagen Catalogue of Good Practices, a selection of effective actions for LGBT human rights from around the world.
World Outgames
The World Outgames are a sporting and cultural event hosted by the gay community. With over 12,000 participants, the 1st World Outgames, held in 2006, was the largest international event to be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since the 1976 Summer Olympiad. These first Outgames were not as...
, was hosted by Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
from July 25 to August 2, 2009. It was one of the largest international sports and cultural event ever held on Danish soil, with 8,000 people from all corners of the world expected to participate. The World Outgames addressed itself primarily, but by no means exclusively, to the homosexual community. The aim was that, once it was underway, the event would be perceived as relevant and welcoming for all inhabitants of Copenhagen.
International Conference on LGBT Human Rights
The Outgames included the 2nd International Conference on LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
from 27 to 29 July. Co-chaired by Rebeca Sevilla and Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson is a former Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004, representing the suburban Vancouver-area constituency of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party...
, the conference included keynote speakers such as John Amaechi
John Amaechi
John Uzoma Ekwugha Amaechi OBE is a retired American-born British basketball player who currently works as a psychologist, educator and political activist in Europe and the United States....
, Virginia Apuzzo, Axel Axgil, Georgina Beyer
Georgina Beyer
Georgina Beyer was the world's first openly transsexual mayor, as well as the world's first openly transsexual Member of Parliament, and from 27 November 1999 until 14 February 2007 was an MP for the Labour Party in New Zealand.-Early life:Georgina Bertrand was born and assigned male at birth, and...
, Michelle Douglas
Michelle Douglas
Michelle Douglas is a Canadian human rights activist who was involved in a landmark case around lesbian and gay equality rights in the Canadian military....
, Cleve Jones
Cleve Jones
Cleve Jones is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2009...
, Sunil Babu Pant
Sunil Babu Pant
Sunil Babu Pant is the first openly gay politician in Nepal. He is one of five members from the CPN in the constituent assembly, and is also head of the Blue Diamond Society, the only gay rights group in Nepal...
, Parvez Sharma
Parvez Sharma
Parvez Sharma is an internationally renowned New York based Indian writer and filmmaker. He is best known for the multiple award winning and acclaimed film A Jihad for Love, on gay and lesbian Muslims....
, Wan Yanhai
Wan Yanhai
Wan Yanhai is the best-known AIDS activist in China born 20 November 1963.His "frank and aggressive" approach toward AIDS have led to frequent run-ins with authorities and landed him in detention three times in the past 12 years. Wan, 43, is the director of the country's foremost AIDS-awareness...
and Copenhagen Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard
Ritt Bjerregaard
Ritt Bjerregaard is a former Danish politician. She is a member of the Danish Social Democrats, and was Lord Mayor of Copenhagen from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2009...
. The themes of the conference included human rights and politics, business, workers, culture and media, health, education, sport, family and relationships, and sexuality, pleasure, and body politics.
The conference concluded with the release of the Copenhagen Catalogue of Good Practices, a selection of effective actions for LGBT human rights from around the world.