Newham Council is backing London’s bid to host the 2018 Gay Games.

It has been confirmed that London’s entry has been shortlisted to go through to the final round.

If it succeeds, venues around Newham, including Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, will host the multi-sport event which welcomes thousands of athletes from around the world.

For the next stage, the London team will prepare for the arrival of inspectors in July from the Gay Games organisers. The evaluators will be shown the venues for London’s Games which will include local facilities and those in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and will meet the team and communities supporting their bid.

Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, said: “I sincerely hope that London’s bid succeeds. This is an amazing opportunity to build on the many successes of the London 2012 Games, celebrate diversity and change perceptions.

“We’ve already won the bid to host the 2017 World Athletics and Paralympic World Championships, we are also hosting Rugby World Cup 2015 and we’ve got the British Athletics Grand Prix coming to the stadium this July.

“More importantly, just as the Paralympics have transformed attitudes towards people with physical impairment, hosting the Gay Games at the stadium will present another ground-shifting moment to engender respect and tolerance for others.”

The London 2018 Committee submitted their bid in February this year after 18 months of hard work to secure the support of a range of LGBT groups up and down the country.

The Gay Games is the world’s largest sporting and cultural event organized by, and specifically for LGBT athletes, artists and musicians. It was founded in San Francisco by Tom Waddell (a gay decathlete) in 1982.