GayCities Europe editor Paul Brummitt is at the GayGames in Cologne, where he’s competing in the triathlon and blogging and photographing all week.
This is BIG. Friday night before the opening ceremony, and Cologne is teeming with people and getting an outdoor seat at a bar is as much of a challenge gold medal in the Games itself.
There was a near panic on Rudolfsplatz, one of the main gay village squares. The bar stopped serving at 10pm and folded away the tables! Our group even found a supermarket and bought the last ten bottles of Becks. How could they close down so early on this special weekend?
But we needn’t have worried. Locals showed us the way (thanks, George!). The party moved down the street, where GayGames had set up open-air bars in the street serving the local Koelsch brew. So it seems there’s no law against drinking alcohol in the street here–or at least it’s laxly enforced.
The parade of athletes at opening ceremony was fun, colorful and diverse–just as any gay sporting event. The difference here in Cologne was that the VIP opening the Games was not only the Foreign Minister and number two in the German government, but also of us!
Openly gay Guido Westerwelle gave an excellent speech telling everyone that “you are a role model for a society, and everyone can be part of – let us all be part of it!” And mentioning the countries with the death penalty for being gay got him a very big round of applause when he said “no religion can ever justify murder”.
Only Iceland beats having a gay foreign minister. In fact, that county actually boasts a lesbian prime minister. Which makes it all the more fitting that at their annual meeting here today, the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics association unanimously voted to hold their 2012 championships there. Well done to St Styrmir. We’re all looking forward to swimming in your geothermal pools – but please keep the volcanoes on hold!.
Off to bed now. If you’re doing the triathlon the shuttle bus leaves for the lake at 6am!
Here are some scenes that drew my fancy through the day and into the opening ceremonies. More to come…
