Gearing up for the Gay Games

In 2001, as Chicago was bidding to host the Gay Games, Kurt Dahl decided to lend a hand. He didn't know much about the Games - he vaguely recalled something about Greg Louganis diving a few years earlier - but he figured his background in banking and finance could help.

Chicago won the bid. By the time Gay Games VII kicked off in 2006, Dahl was the treasurer.

His story is not unique. "A lot of people - even in the gay community - don't know about the Gay Games," he says.

Which means that Gay Games VIII - set for Cologne, Germany from July 31 to Aug. 7 - faces the quadrennial challenge: Telling the world what the Gay Games are, and why they're important.

Over …