United Airlines will serve as a gold sponsor and the exclusive airline partner of the 2014 Gay Games – the largest international sports and culture festival in the world open to all adult participants.

“We are proud to serve as the exclusive airline for this international celebration of community and competition, and we look forward to welcoming each of the athletes to our hub city of Cleveland,” said Nene Foxhall, the airline’s executive vice president for communications and government affairs. “We are also pleased to support an event that so closely reflects United’s culture of diversity and inclusion.”

The 2014 Gay Games, which will be held in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, Aug. 9-16, are expected to attract approximately 30,000 visitors, including 11,000 participants from across the globe. The Games are open to athletes regardless of sexual orientation, ethnicity or ability, and participants can compete in more than 35 sports and cultural events.

“We are excited to have an airline partner that has the reach to easily get our global and domestic visitors to Northeast Ohio for next year’s Gay Games,” said Tom Nobbe, executive director of Gay Games 9, the non-profit organization putting on the Games. “It is especially great since United has served our region for so many decades, both as an employer contributing to our community and as a premier air carrier.”