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The Federation of Gay Games on Monday announced it has selected Hong Kong over D.C. and Guadalajara, Mexico, to host the 2022 Gay Games, the quadrennial international LGBT sports event that’s expected to attract as many as 15,000 athletes and thousands more spectators to the host city.

The announcement came at a news conference in Paris during the annual General Assembly of the Federation of Gay Games, the U.S.-based group that organizes the Gay Games and selects the host city.

It took place two days after the FGG’s Site Selection Committee heard final presentations from representatives of the bid committees from D.C., Hong Kong and Guadalajara.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C.’s Gay Games Bid Committee Chair Brent Minor were among six members of the D.C. bid committee that delivered the presentation on Saturday. They were part of a 32-member D.C. contingent that traveled to Paris to support D.C.’s bid for the Games.

The news conference announcing the selection of the host city for the 2022 Gay Games was held immediately prior to a gala dinner hosted by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose city will be hosting the 2018 Gay Games.

The FGG’s decision on Monday came eight years after it passed over bids by D.C. and Boston in 2009 to host the 2014 Gay Games and instead chose Cleveland. At the time the FGG said Cleveland, D.C. and Boston were equally qualified to host the Gay Games from the standpoint of infrastructure, financing and support from the governments of their respective cities.

Cleveland was ultimately chosen, FGG officials said, because it and its surrounding jurisdictions in Ohio were less advanced in LGBT rights than Boston and D.C. They said holding the Gay Games in Cleveland would have a greater impact on one of the games’ objectives — to advance LGBT rights in places where advancement was needed.

The FGG in February of this year named D.C., Hong Kong and Guadalajara as finalists among more than a dozen cities that initially submitted bids to host the 2022 Gay Games. In June, the FGG’s Site Selection Committee visited the three cities to inspect playing fields and other venues where more than two dozen sporting events would be held as part of the Gay Games.

Each of the three finalist cities earlier this year submitted written bid proposals several hundred pages long citing what they asserted were the advantages of their respective cities.

Each pointed out that their respective cities have a long record of hosting large events like conventions and sporting competitions. The bids submitted by the three cities each asserted that they have the infrastructure and community support to host dozens of individual sporting events ranging from soccer and swimming to tennis and rowing.

Observers speculated that if the FGG decision makers viewed the three cities as being equally qualified from a technical and infrastructure standpoint they might look toward other factors that could favor Hong Kong and Guadalajara over D.C. If selected, for example, Hong Kong would represent the first time the Gay Games were held in Asia. Similarly, Guadalajara would be the first city ever in Latin America to host the games.

Another factor considered a possible disadvantage for D.C. was the election last year of Donald Trump as U.S. president. Large numbers of athletes and spectators expected to attend the Gay Games come from Europe, where Trump has emerged as a highly disliked figure.

The local D.C. government, which played a lead role in preparing the city’s bid for the Gay Games, is run independently from the federal government and the White House by locally elected officials who have been highly critical of Trump. But some sources familiar with the Gay Games speculated that the FGG might have worried that the dislike for Trump would result in fewer people attending the Gay Games in Washington if Trump were still president in 2022.

Gay Games officials declined to comment prior to Monday’s decision on what, if any, political considerations would be a factor in selecting a host city.

“Over the last several days, Gay Games D.C. showed the very best D.C. has to offer,” said Bowser in a statement she released shortly after the FGG announced Hong Kong had been awarded the games. “Our bid proved that Washington, D.C. is strong not simply because we are diverse, but because we celebrate our diversity and inclusion.”

“As the world questions how the United States will position itself on the global stage, it is incumbent upon all of us to continue showing the world who we really are,” she added. “This bid represented our D.C. values, which represent the very best American ideals: All are created equal. We congratulate Hong Kong, and it is our hope that the 2022 Gay Games spark reforms to bring about equality for our LGBTQ friends there too.”

Minor in his own statement echoed Bowser.

“While we are very disappointed that D.C. was not chosen as the host city for the 2022 Gay Games, we extend our congratulations to Hong Kong” he said. “We are confident that they will be able to present a great Gay Games and we offer any assistance we can provide to make that happen.”

The FGG’s 2017 General Assembly was scheduled to take place in Paris from Oct. 26-Nov. 1. In addition to deliberating over the selection of its 2022 host city, the General Assembly was working with officials in Paris on final arrangements for the 2018 Gay Games, which will be held in Paris.

Hidalgo participated in the news conference at the Paris City Hall during which the announcement that Hong Kong was selected to host the 2022 Gay Games was made.

She hosted the gala dinner immediately after the announcement in honor of the organizers of the 2018 Gay Games. FGG officials said the dinner was also serving as a fundraiser for the FGG’s scholarship program.

Among those joining D.C. Mayor Bowser and Minor in the D.C. contingent in Paris were D.C. Council members Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4).

Also among the D.C. contingent were Marvin Bowser, brother of Mayor Bowser, who has assisted in preparing D.C.’s bid; Sheila Alexander-Reid, director of the Mayor’s LGBTQ Affairs Office; Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual LGBT Pride festivities; Christopher Dyer, former director of the Office of LGBTQ Affairs; gay rights advocate Clark Ray, who serves as D.C.’s Statewide Director of Athletics; and several representatives of the city’s convention and visitors bureau.

Minor said the D.C. Gay Games Bid Committee raised money from private sources, including corporate sponsors, to pay the travel expenses for the D.C. contingent’s trip to Paris. He said some of the funds for the trip were raised by the city’s LGBT sports leagues.