German MP Westerwelle Named Patron of the Gay Games

By Anna McFaith on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - 20:14

As you might have heard, the Gay Games are coming again.

From the 31st of July to the 7th of August, most of the eurOut staff will be in Cologne, Germany, attending sport events and hosting various events for our readers.

We’ll inform you about those when the Gay Games draw a little nearer, but for now we can positively tell you that you won’t be disappointed.

The Gay Games, for those who have never heard of it, is basically a huge Pride event with a lot of sports. It’s one of the world’s largest amateur sport events and drew 11,500 participants in 2006, when it was last held. Every four years, every sport inclined queer in the world can compete against others to take home the title to their city, not their country.

Hosting the event is quite an honor and before Cologne this year, cities like New York, Sidney, Chicago, Amsterdam and San Francisco have had that honor. Opening the event this year is Guido Westerwelle, a German political figure who has been openly gay since 2004, when he attended Angela Merkel’s 50^th birthday party with his partner.

Westerwelle has been the Chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) since the same year, and was the party’s General Secretary before that. On October 28, 2009, he was named the country’s foreign minister. In this position he is the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

His nomination has been met with a wide range of emotions, especially from German people. While openly gay, Westerwelle refused to acknowledge his sexual orientation for a long time before coming out and even now, he doesn’t like to use the words ‘gay’ or ‘boyfriend’. Another point of criticism is that many German LGBTs think that Westerwelle’s political party delayed equality for LGBTs more than necessary.

Guido Westerwelle (L) and Dr. Michael Mronz/Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images Europe

Westerwelle’s nomination, however, does mean a high profile German official will be present at the Games, adding considerable weight to the proceedings. While some may see Westerwelle’s involvement as just another photo opportunity, there is no denying that Westerwelle is gay, out and his very visible contribution to the Games will strengthen his visibility as a gay man on an international scale.

Whether Guido Westerwelle is the right man for the job remains to be seen, but we’ll find out at the ceremony. If anything, an open admittance of his sexuality and an acknowledgement of his long term partner, Michael Mronz seem to be in order. 34,000 spectators and 12,000 LGBT athletes will hear this speech and it’s the kick off to seven days of LGBT Pride and fun. For his sake, I hope his speech fits those two criteria.