Editor's note: During the Spring 2026 semester, Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) will highlight examples of survival, contemplation, competition, protest and learning in their exhibition, “Cultivating Community: Stories from Special Collections.” 

Curated by six faculty members from the Hesburgh Libraries and featuring pieces housed in six of RBSC’s distinct collections, “Cultivating Community: Stories from Special Collections” showcases the universality of constructing community and cultivating hope across time and place.

Throughout the semester, the Hesburgh Libraries website will feature news articles about each of the six faculty curators, providing insight into the stories behind their individual exhibits. Previously, we featured a story on Rachel Bohlmann, American history and American Studies librarian and curator, and her exhibit titled “A Community of Learners in Colonial America and the Early Republic.”

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Originally, the pin read “Gay Olympic Games San Francisco Aug. 28th/Sept. 5th 1982.” Today, displayed in the center of an exhibit case in Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) at the Hesburgh Libraries, the word “Olympic” is crossed out with black permanent marker, leaving only a fragment of the letter “c” visible.

The button serves as the centerpiece of “The Gay Olympic Games: Community Through Sport,” an exhibit curated by Greg Bond, curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection and University Archives sports archivist. The exhibit is one of six that comprise “Cultivating Community: Stories from Special Collections.”

“I think the exhibits use our diverse collections to tell stories about ways that people over time and across space have tried to build community and come together for greater causes,” Bond said. “The Gay Games are a good example of that.”

The Gay Olympic Games 

The Gay Olympic Games were created in the early 1980s by activists in San Francisco, including founder Tom Waddell, a medical doctor and former U.S. Olympic decathlete, who had competed in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

“Waddell wanted to create an event for LGBTQ people and allies that served as an inclusive place for athletes who might not otherwise have felt welcome at mainstream sporting activities,” said Bond. 

As early as the 1960s, large cities such as San Francisco, Minneapolis and Chicago had well-established gay athletic leagues, but during the early 1980s, the LGBTQ community often wasn’t welcome in many sporting and other spaces.

From the onset, organizers wanted to style an event that went beyond sports. In addition to the athletic events, the Games included a week of cultural activities and displays, including art, music and other creative works. 

“This was one way LGBTQ people found to support one another and build community while also creating something larger; to say, in essence, ‘We are people too. We like playing sports. We like competition and artistic expression, and we have the same dreams, hopes, and fears as anyone else,” Bond said. “The event was an opportunity for LGBTQ people to stake a claim to being citizens of the United States, just like everyone else, and to fight against the widespread discrimination and prejudice they often encountered due to their sexual orientation.”

Last-minute lawsuit

Just weeks before the scheduled opening ceremonies, the International Olympic Committee sued the Gay Olympic Games on the grounds that the U.S. Amateur Sports Act of 1978 gave the U.S. Olympic Committee exclusive rights to the word “Olympic.”

“This lawsuit was seen by many in the LGBTQ community as a representation of the prejudice and discrimination they often felt from mainstream American society,” Bond said. “It was indicative of the way they often did not feel welcomed by mainstream organizations, sport or otherwise.”

Even though a number of other groups had been using the word "Olympic" to describe their events for years, this was the first major lawsuit based on the Act.

“It was seen as no coincidence that this was the first major lawsuit to enforce this federal law,” Bond said. “Many people at the time, both in the LGBTQ community and elsewhere, interpreted the lawsuit as the Olympics not wanting to be associated with the word ‘Gay.’” 

The Gay Olympic Games begin

Though the lawsuit prevented the newly branded Gay Games from using the terms “Olympic” or “Olympiad,” the games continued on schedule with a few modifications. 

“The organizing committee and other supporters of the Gay Olympic Games had created all this merchandise, publications and swag with ‘Gay Olympic Games,’ so they very hastily modified a lot of it by simply crossing out the word ‘Olympic.’”

The games began on August 28, 1982, with Tina Turner performing at the opening ceremonies. It featured 1,350 competitors from more than 170 cities.

“They gave gold, silver and bronze medals to the winning teams and athletes, but throughout the program and in newsletters, they emphasized that competition was kind of beside the point,” Bond said. “So, while there were winners and losers, organizers of the event really emphasized that this was about bringing people together and creating something. It was about the joy of competition, camaraderie, teamwork and building community.”

Since its inaugural year, the Gay Games has continued to take place with an expanding number of athletes and sporting events. The next games are set to be hosted in Valencia, Spain, later this summer. 

The exhibit

In “The Gay Olympic Games: Community Through Sport,” Bond tells a story of community inclusion, perseverance, and camaraderie. In addition to the pin with the word “Olympic” crossed out, the exhibit features an official program, newsletters and other pieces from RBSC’s new Gay Games Collection, which holds items from the first four games. 

“We’re actively trying to build this collection, in an effort to document as many different sporting experiences as possible, including the experiences of members of the LGBTQ community,” Bond said. “It was inspiring to read these sources and see how the organizers and participants have built an effort that now brings together tens of thousands of competitors every four years, and has become an accepted part of the international sporting community.”

“Cultivating Community: Stories from Special Collections” is generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment. The exhibition is open to the public and will remain on display in 102 Hesburgh Library, Rare Books & Special Collections, through June 15.