Gay
Olympic Games
Artist Unknown
Silkscreen, 1982
San Francisco, CA
34013
Of the many ongoing controversies surrounding the 22nd
Winter Olympic Games taking place in Sochi, Russia’s anti-gay laws criminalizing
and marginalizing the LGBTQ communities continue to be one of the most widely
protested. While it’s easy to point the finger at homophobic Russians,
the U.S. has a long history of discrimination against people in the LGBTQ
communities. The Gay Olympics was launched in San
Francisco in 1982. Less than three weeks before the start of the Gay
Olympics, event organizers were sued by the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) which claimed that the USOC had
exclusive rights to the word Olympic in the United States. Defendants in the
lawsuit contended that the law was capriciously applied and that if the
Nebraska Rat Olympics and the Police Olympics did not face similar lawsuits,
neither should the Gay Olympics. Many believed that homophobia was a motivation
behind the lawsuit. After the ruling blocked the use of the name "Gay
Olympic Games," they became known—and continue to be known—as the Gay
Games. This poster was made before the ruling.
Despite the popular myth that the Olympics celebrate the skill,
talent and dedication of the athletes, the Olympics have always been primarily about
political and financial wheeling and dealing. For those who have doubts,
please consider the following:
1936 –
Hitler intended that the Berlin Olympics would demonstrate the supremacy of Nazi ideology. After
African American Jesse Owens won four gold medals and set two world records,
Hitler’s propaganda mission suffered a serious blow. Marty Glickman and Sam
Stoller were the only two Jews on the American track and field team who went to
the Berlin Olympics. They were scheduled to run in the 4 x 100 meter relay
event but their coach, Dean Cromwell, pulled them at the last minute partly
because of anti-Semitism and partly because Cromwell and Avery Brundage,
president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, didn't want to offend or embarrass their
Nazi hosts by having two American Jews on the winning podium. Earlier, Brundage had opposed a boycott
of the Berlin Olympics, arguing that politics had no place in sport.
1956 – The Soviet Union sent more than
200,000 soldiers to put down a nationalist uprising in Hungary. The Hungarian
water polo team fled the country during the uprising, and made their way to the
Melbourne Olympics. When they faced off against the Soviet water polo team, the
match was violent, with both teams trading blows in the pool.
1968 – The Olympic Games were held in Mexico
City. Ten days before the opening, the Mexican military fired on student
protesters, killing hundreds. This
became known as the Tlatelolco massacre. After winning the gold and bronze
medals in the 200 meters, African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos
received their medals on the podium shoeless but wearing black socks to
symbolize black poverty, black scarves to symbolize black pride, and a single
black glove on a hand raised in salute. They had their metals taken away,
received death threats and were ostracized by the U.S. sporting establishment.
Pugno
Chiuso Contra il Razzismo USA
Translation: Fist Closed Against Racism in the USA
Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI)
Offset, 1968
Rome, Italy
5818
Translation:
Fist
Closed Against Racism in the USA
Smith
and Carlos at the Olympic Games
Bare
Feet: the poverty of the black people
Black
Glove: the mourning of the black people
Closed
Fist: the willingness to fight
The
Italian Communists are with them against imperialism and racism
1972 – The Munich Olympics were the first
Games held in Germany since Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Games. The West German
government hoped to present to the world the democratic and optimistic West Germany.
Instead, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by the Palestinian terrorist group
Black September who had originally intended to exchange the Israeli hostages
for Palestinian prisoners. After a one-day suspension, the Games continued.
Following the Games, the Israeli government launched Operation Wrath of God and
Operation Spring of Youth to track down and kill those responsible for the
massacre.
1980
– When the U.S. and Soviets were fighting a proxy war in
Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter led a 62 nation boycott of the Soviet
Olympics.
1984 – The
Soviets retaliated to the 1980 boycott by leading a 14 nation boycott of the
Olympics in Los Angeles.
Official
Olympics Police State
Fireworks Graphics
Silkscreen, 1984
Los Angeles, California
3130
This poster decries the militarization of Los Angeles during the
1984 Olympics, when officials invoked heightened security measures in response
to later discredited reports that the city faced a threat of terrorist action that
would be comparable to the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich
Olympics.
Sources:
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