Gay Games HK to be co-hosted with Mexican city, founder Dennis Philipse steps down

The organisers of Gay Games have added the Mexican city of Guadalajara as a co-host as Hong Kong continues its implementation of strict pandemic-related travel restrictions.

The Federation of Gay Games (FGG) and Gay Games 11 Hong Kong (GGHK) said Guadalajara was a finalist for the 2022 and 2026 Gay Games. The organisers said they had to be agile adaptable to a constantly changing environment in these unprecedented times. "Faced with continued challenges brought on by the pandemic, with the desire to ensure more participants can join the games regardless of their locations, GGHK recently proposed the concept of a co-hosted event to the FGG," said Lisa Lam, co-chair of GGHK.

She added that by launching Gay Games 11 across two locations, the organisers can ensure that they will meet their aim of being as inclusive as possible for travellers while international travel continues to recover. "We will still be holding the first Gay Games in Asia, but potentially for the first time in Latin America as well, welcoming the widest possible audience to both cities. There is a huge amount of planning to do and we will be providing more detailed updates as soon as we are in a position to share more information," she added.

On the other hand, FGG said it is working on studies and planning with both Hong Kong and Guadalajara. "The passion of these two teams will bring to life the vision of founder of Gay Games Tom Waddell and the mission of the Gay Games: participation, inclusion and personal best," said Sean Fitzgerald, co-president of FGG.

Meanwhile, Dennis Philipse (pictured left), founder and co-chair of Gay Games Hong Kong, has stepped down from the management team but will continue to support its mission as a member of GGHK’s Advisory Committee. On a LinkedIn post, he said, "It has been an hounor to have founded and led Gay Games 11 Hong Kong 2023, a visionary startup organisation, during the last seven years, the last two full time in a volunteer capacity."

"For me, it is now time to resume my professional career.  This means that I will step down from my role as leader and co-chair and hand over the reins to the next cohort of leaders to organise the event.  I will continue to support the mission of GGHK and the Federation of Gay Games to promote Diversity and Inclusion through sport and culture as a member of GGHK’s Advisory Committee," he added. 

Philipse was last with Service now as for close to six years, holding the role of regional innovation lead for SPJ where he defined and executed strategies with regional and global teams to deliver innovative initiatives to increase value and revenue. This included from ideation to successful implementation and platform adoption. Critical to this was improved customer experience that drove operational and delivery excellence. He was also the cofounder and director of Gone Running and worked with companies such as HR Boss and SuccessFactors an SAP company.

Moving forward, the organisers said to ensure continuity as Hong Kong and Guadalajara build the co-host teams, Lisa Lam will remain as GGHK co-chair and Nigel Lee, who has represented GGHK at FGG events for the last few years, will stand in as acting co-chair until a new co-chair based in Hong Kong can be brought onboard.

The Gay Games 11 Hong Kong 2022 will originally be held in November 2022. In September 2021, it was postponed to November 2023 due to the emergence of COVID-19 variants, and corresponding travel restrictions. At that time, Philipse said the progression of COVID-19 variants, and corresponding travel restrictions continued to make it challenging for participants from around the world to come to Hong Kong for the event.

The event sparked debate in Hong Kong previously. some lawmakers, including Junius Ho and Priscilla Leung, objected to the hosting of Gay Games in Hong Kong before, saying the Games will divide society, promote same-sex marriage and waste the effort from the Olympic Games that unites society as the Gay Games will tear it apart. But some lawmakers showed support to the Games. For example, Regina Ip of New People's Party urged the government to offer appropriate assistance to the organiser so they can book sports venues smoothly.

Ip said, "The importance of the Games to Hong Kong’s global image as a forward-looking, cosmopolitan city should not be underestimated. In addition, the 12,000 participants and 75,000 spectators that were expected in the original plans would bring in close to HK$1 billion to the local economy, providing a lifeline to the tourism and aviation sectors which have been so badly affected in the last two years."

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