The International Gay Bowling Organization (IGBO) represents over 5000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) members from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States. The organization was established in 1980 to provide a collaborative sporting group within the LGBT community. The organization embraces the "ideals of Unity, Fellowship and Communication". [1] By 2019, the group had more than 8,000 members. [2]
LGBT sports leagues began emerging in the United States in the 1970s, primarily as a social outlet for men and women who wished to fraternize with other homosexual amateur athletes in a non-bar atmosphere.
In 1989, the national tournament was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, and featured 770 competitors. Stand-up comedian Judy Tenuta performed during the first night of the event. [3]
Over the past 30 years, the IGBO has dealt with topical issues such as increasing participation by women, memorializing members who have succumbed to AIDS, raising funds for charitable organizations and the ongoing pursuit of increasing membership worldwide.
The organization's participation levels younger bowlers has somewhat lowered in part due to more favorable public opinion of LGBT persons; however, many younger members have left the organization as a result of poor management from both the executive board as well as league leadership.
IGBO is a membership-based organization of member leagues, tournaments and individuals (associates). Leagues and tournaments join IGBO to network and promote their events across the organization. Individuals can become a part of IGBO by joining a member league or individually as an associate member.
IGBO conducts business through a board of elected volunteers and a series of committees. Twice annually, in November and May, IGBO conducts a conference to gather representatives from member leagues and tournaments and conduct business.
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members located in Illinois, Indiana, and New York. For football, the MAC participates in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision.
The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals.
Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ball, or failing that, on the second roll.
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected President Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its fourteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. There are also four associate members who participate in sports not sponsored by their home conferences.
Earl Roderick Anthony was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his career title count was listed as 41. The count was amended to 43 in 2008, when the PBA chose to retroactively award PBA titles for ABC Masters championships if won by a PBA member at the time. He is widely credited for having increased bowling's popularity in the United States. He was the first bowler to earn over $100,000 in a season (1975), and the first to reach $1,000,000 in lifetime PBA earnings (1982). His ten professional major titles—six PBA National Championships, two Firestone Tournament of Champions titles, and two ABC Masters titles—are the second most all time, tied with Pete Weber and five behind Jason Belmonte.
Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families, & Friends is an international organization for individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex, or same-sex attracted, and their family members, friends, and church leaders who are members or former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A perfect game is the highest score possible in a game of bowling, achieved by scoring a strike in every frame. In bowling games that use 10 pins, such as ten-pin bowling, candlepin bowling, and duckpin bowling, the highest possible score is 300, achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row in a traditional single game: one strike in each of the first nine frames, and three more in the tenth frame.
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling standards, rules and regulations from 1895 onwards; the Women's International Bowling Congress—founded in 1916, as the female bowlers' counterpart to the then all-male ABC; the Young American Bowling Alliance, and USA Bowling. The USBC's headquarters are located in Arlington, Texas, after having moved from the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, Wisconsin, in November 2008. The move enabled the USBC to combine its operations with the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America (BPAA).
The Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was an organization for women bowlers who played ten-pin bowling and was formed in 1916 as a counterpart to the American Bowling Congress (ABC). The WIBC was initially called the "Woman's National Bowling Association" (WNBA), before the Women's International Bowling Congress was formed.
The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) organizes and oversees a series of annual tournaments for the top competitive women ten-pin bowlers. The series is often referred to as the "women's tour" of bowling.
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Members include "pro shop" owners and workers, teaching professionals and bowlers who compete in the various events put on by the Association.
The Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA) is a not-for-profit international organization that manages and sanctions the gay tennis circuit around the world. The goal of the organization is to promote access to tennis and diversity and acceptance within the sport. GLTA-sanctioned tournaments provide a safe space for LGBT players to have fun playing competitive tennis in an environment where all who share the value of diversity are welcome.
Olivia "Bong" Coo is a Filipino sports administrator and retired professional bowler. She is regarded as the most decorated Filipino athlete. As a member of the Philippine national team, she has amassed a total of 78 medals won in regional and world competitions, 37 of which were gold medals. She is a 4-time world champion and a World Bowling Hall of Fame and Philippine Sports Hall of Fame member.
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins or another target. The term bowling usually refers to pin bowling, though in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, bowling could also refer to target bowling, such as lawn bowls.
The National Gay Basketball Association (NGBA) is an LGBTQ sports organization which exists to promote gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender athletic participation in basketball.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-heterosexual or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) community is prevalent within sports across the world.
The Cincinnati Pride Parade and Festival is a week-long celebration of the city's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other identities ([LGBTQ+]) community. The festivities are typically held annually at the end of June but have happened as early as April and as late as July in various locations of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rainbow capitalism is the involvement of capitalism, corporatism, and consumerism in appropriating and profiting from the LGBT movement. It developed in the 20th and 21st centuries as the LGBT community became more accepted in society and developed sufficient purchasing power, known as pink money. Early rainbow capitalism was limited to gay bars and gay bathhouses, though it expanded to most industries by the early-21st century.
Margaret Ann "Peg" Grey was an American physical education teacher and sports organizer based in Chicago. She was the first female co-chair of the Federation of Gay Games. She was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1992.