Gaycs

Gaycs is the LGBTI department of AICS – Associazione Italiana Cultura e Sport – and has been founded in 2012. Every year since July 2014 Gaycs has been promoting the biggest LGBTI sport event in Italy, the “Italian Gaymes” (more than 700 athletes from all over the country competing in 10 sport disciplines). Gaycs operates and promotes LGBTI sport clubs throughout Italy in several bigger cities, such as Rome, Milan, Naples, Genoa and Bologna. Gaycs also works in the fields of advocacy, sexual health, psychological and legal support, and is specifically involved in the field of human rights education through sport. Since 2013 our association has been organizing Cocktail, the main gayfriendly Sunday night party in Rome, aimed at supporting advocacy and social activities. In 2016 Gaycs founded the official Italian Gay friendly National Football Team, playing several not-for profit matches against the Italian Actors Football Team and other representatives involved in awareness raising social causes. Each year during spring Gaycs organizes a football tournament called “Diamo un calcio all’omofobia” (Let’s Kick Homophobia) in Rome, and since September 2017 it also promoted the FLAG LGBTI Literature Festival. Since October 2017, Gaycs has been carrying out an experimental plan of non formal education through sport, based on the concept of human rights education which now involves over 50 people aged between 18 and 25 in Rome. Our trainers are applying the concept of Compass - Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People, edited for the second edition in 2015 by the Council of Europe – in the framework of sport activities. The efforts of Gaycs have been acknowledged both at national and at European level. In 2016, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation - EGLSF - assigned to Rome and Gaycs the organization of Eurogames 2019, the main LGBTI sport event in Europe.