Fox News Attacks Denver's Bid for Gay Games 2030

Three weeks ago, Federation of Gay Games site inspectors visited Denver as part of this city's bid to host the Gay Games 2030. Members of the Gay Games Denver 2030 Bid Committee joined with community leaders and elected officials to show off all that the Mile High City has to offer the international LGBTQIA2S+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirit, plus) community.

That's too long an acronym for some people. "I'm not sure by the time we get to 2030, there might be a few other letters added to that," screeched Fox News's Tomi Lahren to host Laura Ingraham on her August 7 show. Despite the dearth of anything new to report about Denver's shot at hosting the Gay Games five years from show, Lahren thought she'd fill some air time talking shit about that community.

Denver is one of two finalists left being considered as the host city for the every-four-years, ten-day event featuring thousands of athletes of all genders, sexual orientation/gender identity, and athletic skill levels. The competition is now between Denver and Perth, Australia, after Auckland, New Zealand dropped its bid. In 2018, the Gay Games brought an estimated $115 million to its host city of Paris, with 10,000 participants and 40,000 visitors attending. (The most recent Gay Games was diverted to 2023 because of COVID protocols, and split between Hong Kong and Guadalajara, Mexico.)

"It was hard for me to actually find the competition, the sport," Lahren, once known as "white power Barbie," told Ingraham. "I thought perhaps it would be sports categories, but really what this is is a giant Pride festival. It's a lot of arts and crafts, singing, cultural moments. It's dancing, it's togetherness, it's for LGBTQIA-plus."

If Lahren had navigated to the very clearly labeled "Sports" page of the website promoting Denver's bid for the games, she would have seen the eclectic list of sports planned (no arts and crafts) if Denver is the host city. It lists 5k and 10k runs, artistic swimming, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, bodybuilding, bowling, cheerleading, cycling, dancesport, darts, diving, dodgeball, eSports, figure skating, flag football, a half and a full marathon, golf, ice hockey, kickball, martial arts, pickleball, powerlifting, roller derby, rugby, soccer, softball, sport climbing, swimming, tennis, track & field, triathlon, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

That lineup didn't stop Lahren from spewing further: "Again, this is the gay community, the radical part of the gay community, that doesn't want to be equal, that wants to be special. 'Look at me! Look at me! We need our own separate things, we need our own separate areas.' So that's what it's really about. And Denver is vying for this, by the way. It's not a given — They are campaigning to be the chosen city.'"

Indeed, we are. If Denver succeeds in its bid to host the Gay Games 2030, it will be the first time the games have been held in the increasingly homophobic and anti-diversity/equity/inclusion United States since Cleveland in 2014.

"We saw the recent piece on Denver’s bid to host the 2030 Gay Games and were disappointed they didn’t connect with us beforehand," says Lance Husak, co-chair of GGDEN2030. "They missed an opportunity to learn about the inclusive spirit that defines the Games, the diverse sporting and cultural events planned, and the powerful economic boost hosting would bring — especially for Denver metro businesses. Having experienced firsthand how extraordinary the Gay Games truly are, I’m personally excited about the possibility of delivering Denver the win — and eager to show skeptics just how powerful and inspiring this event can be."

When the site inspectors visited Denver two months ago, co-chair Lisa Seib told Westword: "In this time in America when DEI is under attack, when there are voices out there that want to silence our own, to minimize us, to erase us — we're using that to gather our people together. We've done it throughout history. We've used that as a way to reinforce our resilience and to fuel our resistance. So the times we're living through right now are the best reason why we should be hosting the Gay Games."