The Gay Games VII

We were honored with free tickets to the Opening Ceremonies at the Gay Games hosted in Chicago. This was the first ever opportunity for the United States to host these games.

This was an unparelled experience for us to witness. Tens of thousands of spectators attended the opening ceremonies at Soldier Field to hear a welcoming address from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and to watch dancers, a choir and fireworks. The opening ceremony started with a parade onto the field, with participants from karound the world, including one person representing Uganda.

James Hormel, a gay San Francisco philanthropist who served as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg in the Clinton administration, gave the keynote address that Scott and I missed because the heat, humidity and unscheduled length of the opening ceremonies drove us out of the glorious stadium to explore other Chicago advenutres. We did stay long enough to hear Megan Mullally and Kate Clinton, but we missed comedian Margaret Cho.

Consisting of more than 12,000 contestants in 30 sports, the local reporters estimated $50 to $80 million would be injected into the Chicago area's economy during the Gay Games. Athletes came from 61 countries.

Soldier field was amazing. Check out this virtual tour at the following link: http://www.soldierfield.net/virtualTour.aspx). This stadium is incredible...it is brand new, but they implemented some architecture from the old field.