In the first of a new series leading up to the Gay Games in Paris next August we meet some of the LGBTs who will be representing Ireland in their chosen sports.

Interviews by Ciara McGrattan. Photos by Babs Daly

Aidan Walsh, Football

“There is a competitive element to the Games, but if you only focused on the competition you would lose out on so much.

“I came out relatively late in my life. I’ve always been involved in sport, always been involved in football. I was conscious of the Dublin Devils when they hosted a European tournament a few years ago, so I got in touch soon enough after I came out.

The beauty of the Gay Games is that it’s not necessarily competitive; it’s promoting health and wellness and for people to get involved as much as possible.

We expect to get between 60-80 participants across a wide range of sports. At the moment we’ve got footballers, cyclists, a number of triathletes; we have boxers, a crowd of martial arts people from Cork; we have lots of marathon runners. It’s like the gay Olympics, which is how it was originally envisioned.