19 Apr 2008 - Portugal becomes 26th country in the GLRF community

21 Dec 2007 - Eurogames 2008 scratches rowing from list of sports disciplines

13 Jun 2006 - Espana joins the GLRF community

15 Dec 2005 - Croatia media frenzy over gay rowers and GLRF

03 Jul 2005 - Local article about GLRF Italian Rowing Clinic causes scandal

17 May 2005 - Hrvatska (Croatia) becomes the second Adriatic nation to join the GLRF community

09 May 2005 - GLRF sponsors Italian Sculling Clinic

31 Jan 2005 – First Italian Rower Joins GLRF

09 May 2004 - Greek Rower Joins GLRF

Lisbon rower facilitates Portugal’s entry into GLRF

19 Apr 2008 – Lisbon; A Lisbon sculler’s registration heralded the entry of Portugal into the GLRF worldwide community, marking the 26th country to compose the worldwide gay and lesbian rowing network. Portugal has an active rowing community with clubs along the coast as well as inland. Many northern European crews train in Portugal’s temperate inland waterways during the winter months. GLRF mapped some of the many rowing clubs in Portugal.  return to news summary

Barcelona Eurogames cancels rowing

21 Dec 2007 - Barcelona; The 2008 Eurogames organizing committee has eliminated rowing from the schedule of sports disciplines to be offered at the XII Eurogames scheduled for July 2008. The move was revealed after the registration system was launched today and website visitors found rowing was not on the list of sports disciplines. Instead, canoe and kayak has been added to the list of sporting events. The decision came as a surprise to GLRF and is expected to significantly disappoint the many rowers in the European gay and lesbian community who had planned to participate.

The decision comes in spite of repeated efforts by GLRF over the last year to develop liaisons within the Barcelona rowing community and to provide introductions for the Eurogames 2008 staff. These efforts included two separate visits by GLRF to Barcelona in 2007. See related stories.  The possibility of a coastal rowing regatta, as an alternative, had begun to take shape and would have provided rowers with a unique opportunity to expand their rowing skills. 

GLRF deeply regrets the decision by Eurogames 2008 to eliminate rowing.  return to news summary

A rower from Alicante edges Espana onto the GLRF map

13 Jun 2006 - Alicante; A female rower wanted to know why the Spanish flag was not visible on the GLRF site. The reply was simple: when one member from a country joins, we add the country to the GLRF Worldwide Community. With that response, a Spanish rower registered with GLRF, and Spain became part of the GLRF community.

As host to the 1992 Olympic Games, Spain made a permanent mark on rowing with its development of the world-renown rowing center at Estany de Banyoles (Lake Banyoles). Of equal stature are the extremely competitive crews that continually emerge from Spain’s rowing community. 

GLRF is proud and honored to welcome rowers from El Reino de Espana. We look forward to creating a gateway to a community for Spain’s gay and lesbian rowers.    return to news summary

Three newspaper articles and a TV segment focus on gay rowers in Croatia and GLRF

15 Dec 2005 – Zagreb; Gay rowers were the hot topic of discussion in the Croatia media this week. Over the course of seven days, three different media articles and a TV segment appeared on the subject of gay rowers and their membership in European and international organizations, with specific mention and display of the GLRF website. In a single day, hits on the GLRF website skyrocketed to record levels. New membership registrations from Croatia more than doubled, although that number can be misleading since the number of registered rowers the day before the media frenzy was only 6. 

The tone of the articles was matter of fact, neither positive nor negative, simply stating that rowers from various Croatian cities had registered with GLRF. There was some odd mention of some of the rowers having wives and families, which seemed to come out of nowhere. The articles inferred that some of the Croatian National Team had registered and that overall, approximately 20 rowers had registered with GLRF. Croatian Olympic rowing medalist Siniša Skelin was quoted as saying he was unaware of the organization, that he did not know any gay rowers on the team or that had registered with GLRF. The Secretary of the Croatian Rowing Federation, Zdravko Gajšek, commented that it was inevitable that there could be gay rowers but he felt the number suggested in the press, of 20 gay rowers, was probably more hype than fact, and that a number like 2 might be more realistic. 

The first article appeared in the online media website Index.hr. The second article appeared in the major national Croatian newspapers, Slobodona Dalmacija. The third article appeared in the national morning newspaper, Jutarnji List. Translations are being prepared and will be linked to the media articles. The TV segment was part of a political quiz show that is a regular feature on Croatian nighttime television. The impetus behind the sudden interest in gay rowers remains a mystery. GLRF remains the only international sports organization that has created separate, identifiable pages within its website for each country (GLRF Global Rower).  return to news summary

Newspaper article of GLRF Italian Rowing clinic causes minor scandal

03 Jul 2005 - San Miniato; A local positive press piece about the upcoming GLRF Italian Sculling Clinic, Destinazione Italia, created a minor scandal in this small town. A reporter interviewed the co-director of the Terralba Rowing Camp, Eliza Camp about the clinic. Sra Camp said the article was very positive but its publication caused an uproar in the local town nonetheless. Apparently, the new Assessore to Sports for the town of San Miniato read the article and hit the roof. He wrote letters to the editor and resigned from his position, citing that whether hundreds of gays or just five descend on the town, and row in the lake, it will be a slap in the face of the saints and that young children swim in that water where these gays will row, and all that sort of thing. The controversy was picked up by the online gay Italian press website, GayNews, and the Italian news sites BellaCiao and Newspaper24. Several articles have been captured and reproduced: GayNewsIT1, GayNewsIT2, and BellaCiao. We will add additional updates as more press articles come in.   return to news summary

Zagreb collegiate rower registers with GLRF

Although Croatia is a small country, with a population of only 4.5 million, rowing is a very popular sport. Clubs abound in the city and countryside. Croatian rowers have medaled in the Olympics, including the recent silver for Siniša and Nikša Skelin (2-) in Athens. Hopefully, this first registration will open the door for more rowers to come forward and become a visible part of the global community.  return to news summary

GLRF sponsors Italian Sculling Clinic

09 May 2005 - Los Angeles; The Terralba rowing camp in Tuscany will be the site of the first GLRF Italian Scullers Clinic. The owners of the camp had read about the Craftsbury clinic and contacted GLRF to ask if they could develop a similar event. The event brings a global reach to the GLRF marketing campaign, HitTheWater!2005. Rowers can learn more about the weekend clinic, scheduled for 22 - 25 Sep 2005, by clicking through to the GLRF web page Destinazione Italia. The full press release can be reviewed in the media section.  return to news summary

Italy becomes 14th country to join the GLRF worldwide community

31 Jan 2005 - Roma; Following a news story about GLRF on the Italian Rowing Federation website, the first Italian rower registered with GLRF. The first registrant is listed as an elite rower. It is truly wonderful to see the Italian Rowing Federation take an objective and independent stance by listing news about GLRF and adding GLRF to their international links page. Read the archived news story and the Rowing Federation introduction here.    return to news summary

Athens resident registers with GLRF

09 May 2004 - Athens In what some would call excellent timing, GLRF recorded its 150th registered member from Athens, Greece. The registration makes Greece the ninth country in the global gay and lesbian rowing community. With the Olympics less than three months away, it is fitting that this first Greek profile is of an elite rower. He is 23 years old and rows both sweep and scull.

There is no word yet if he can host other rowers for the Olympics and whether he can get tickets to the week-long rowing competition scheduled for 14 - 22 August 2004. Just kidding there mate.   return to news summary