25 cities from the six continents have expressed their interest in bidding to host the 13th edition of the Gay Games in 2030. They have done so by submitting an official response to the Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Federation of Gay Games (FGG). All six continents are represented among those who bidding to host the Games, with an estimated participation of around 10,000 athletes. 

The organisation expressed its satisfaction with the attention given to the process by the various cities. The FGG prides itself on "an equitable, supportive and transparent bidding process that allows communities to mobilise and unite to participate in the global LGBTQIA+ movement as athletes, artists and allies". 

The event combines sport and culture and is an opportunity to bring together over 10,000 LGBTQIA+ participants and allies in a given region. The competition lasts over a week, and studies provided by the FGG show that in previous editions, such as Paris (2018), which generated €107 million in the region, or Cleveland/Akron (2014), which generated $52 million.

The 25 cities that have expressed interest in hosting the Gay Games XIII in 2030 are: Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth (Australia); São Paulo (Brazil); Edmonton, Vancouver (Canada); Frankfurt (Germany), Athens (Greece), Auckland (New Zealand), Cape Town, Johannesburg (South Africa), Taipei (Taiwan), Liverpool, London (Great Britain), Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Miami, Minneapolis, Oak Creek, San Antonio, San Diego, and Seattle (USA). 

11 US cities are in the running to host the event. Site Selection Officer, Austin Manning, expressed the FGG's excitement at the level of interest from such a diverse range of locations: "This record-breaking interest in hosting the Gay Games 2030 demonstrates a truly global sporting and cultural movement with regions from around the world taking the first step to bid and host the quadrennial Gay Games event." 

"As regions and countries around the world continue to take legislative and social action to protect human rights and create pathways to equality for all, the long list for 2030 includes 25 cities committed to empowering, uplifting, and celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community at home and abroad," he added.

The process now underway will be as follows: first, in March 2024, each of the cities on the list will receive a Request For Proposal (RFP), which is a detailed set of documents that bidders will have to submit. 

They will need to detail the sports they intend to host, the facilities they intend to use, how they intend to finance it, the organisational structure and much more. At the next Annual General Meeting in October 2024 in Washington, DC (USA), the FGG will have its first face-to-face contact with the bidders. A first starting point will be defined there. 

Over the next two years, the bidders will develop their plans in consultation with the FGG and its member delegates, leading up to the FGG's selection of the presumptive host of the 2030 Gay Games XIII in Valencia, Spain, in November 2025. The Spanish city will host the Gay Games XII Valencia 2026, with bids opening in the coming months.

The first Gay Games were held in 1982 in San Francisco, USA, and were repeated four years later in 1986, with subsequent editions taking place on every continent. This time, Taipei (Taiwan) has been added to the list of 25 cities. If selected, it will be the first edition to be held entirely on Asian soil, after Hong Kong and Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2023.