I've come to believe in life that everything is connected. Nothing is an island, entire of itself. Everything is connected.

In the last few weeks, I've been receiving these very annoying phone calls from the "Special Olympics." At least, that's the name that shows up on caller ID. Let me just say this. I have nothing what so ever against the Special Olympics. Nothing at all. And I know that they are calling me for money. But I just can't. Here's why...

I never forget anything, EVER. Here's a look at the past...

Dr. Tom Waddell, the former Olympian, who helped found the Gay Games, intended the Gay Games to be called the "Gay Olympics," but a lawsuit filed less than three weeks before 1982's inaugural Gay Olympics forced the name change.[2]

Event organizers were sued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) under the U.S. Amateur Sports Act of 1978, which gave the USOC exclusive rights to the word Olympic in the United States. Defendants of the lawsuit contended that the law was capriciously applied and that if the Nebraska Rat Olympics and the Police Olympics did not face similar lawsuits, neither should the Gay Olympics.[3]

Some, like Jeff Sheehy, coauthor of San Francisco's domestic partner legislation and former president of the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club, believed homophobia to be a motivation behind the lawsuit. They cite the authorized use of the word "Olympics" by the Special Olympics and other organizations as evidence of this homophobia.[3]

Others, like Daniel Bell, cite the IOC's long history of protecting the Olympics brand as evidence that the lawsuit against the "Gay Olympics" was not motivated by discrimination against gays. Since 1910 the IOC has taken action, including lawsuits and expulsion from the IOC, to stop other organizations from using the word "Olympics."[4]

A 2009 documentary film called "Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial" was created in the USA and has previewed at several film festivals. The subject was also included in a film by David Sector, called "Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace Grit & Glory".

In the years since the lawsuit, the Olympics and the Gay Games have set aside their initial hostilities and worked cooperatively together, successfully lobbying to have HIV travel restrictions waived for the 1994 Gay Games in New York and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. (Source)

You know that old cliché that talks about the ripple effect a stone has when thrown into water. This is one of those times. I haven't set aside my hostilities. Today, I hear about, in my area no less, the "K-9 Olympics" and the "Frog Olympics". No, I'm not kidding. Yet, I don't see the IOC complaining about those. Every time I see the signs advertising these events, it's like taking a bullet. And that includes Special Olympics.

Bigotry is simple. It just is. It really is just as simple as that. And you either endorse it, or you don't. Or, you lie to yourself by telling yourself that you are really quite enlightened and sophisticated by supporting one cause or another, at the expense of another cause; all because of bigotry. It's one of those absolutes in life, just like pregnancy. You either are, or you aren't.

I don't endorse bigotry, and if that means that I have to turn my back on some worthwhile cause to uphold principle, so be it!

I'm sorry Special Olympics that I can't give you the time of day, let alone answer your phone calls, but I didn't do this. You should contact the IOC and find out why they find it such a need to hold such bigotry in their hearts for gay Olympic athletes. For some reason, they hold police dogs to have more dignity and worth than gay athletes.

Until they change, I WON'T.