The Federation of Gay Games has announced that Cleveland will host the 2014 games, beating out Boston and Washington. There’s a huge amount of local support for this, from Mayor Jackson on down, and obviously a fair amount of controversy. This is a huge event for both the gay community and the city, and will raise our visibility considerably.
And yes, our chorus will be performing at several venues. I have already suggested that we commission a kick-ass arrangement of the national anthem.
I gotta tell ya, panache45, when I was listening to the story about it on NPR this morning, I was thinking to myself, “If I don’t get all that fired about athletic competitions in general, why should I care if they are gay games?” A boring track event won’t be any more interesting to me because I know the athletes are gay, compared to, say, the Olympics, where the only difference is you don’t necessarily know who’s gay.
However, if the North Coast Men’s Chorus is performing – especially if you commission that kick-ass arrangement – that’s a whole 'nuther thing! That is totally awesome.
(Seriously, this is wonderful for Cleveland and all of NE Ohio! I hope they televise all of it.)
I heard that today and I think it’s really neat. I love the fact that it shows Cleveland as a “progressive” city and also they say it’ll bring $60mm to the city. Cool!!
Where are they going to be holding events? Browns stadium and the Q?
Gay Games were held in Copenhagen, Denmark, this summer, and it were more a cultural event than a sports event. There were a lot of possive media attention to the games in Denmark and the very few hate crimes towards the gays were condemned by every one.
All in all it was a great party for the city for both the gays and the straights.
Because although there are many gay people in the “regular” Olympics, it’s not an environment in which they can come out. So people just assume that there aren’t any. And especially, kids grow up thinking that they can’t be both gay and athletic, which is an attitude that encourages them to lie about themselves, rather than be proud. And so long as this remains so, we have to have our own Games to show people our diversity.
And by the way, the Gay Games are the only group that cannot use the word “Olympics,” as it was originally called in the early 80s. There was a huge lawsuit by the Olympic Committees (both international and U.S.) to prevent that word being used. AFAIK, nobody else has ever been prevented from using the word. There are Pig Olympics, Rat Olympics, Cockroach Olympics . . . but the only lawsuit has been over Gay Olympics.
Not all athletes in the Gay Games are gay. They are open to anyone regardless of sexual orientation. The motto is “Participation, inclusion, and personal best.”
Opening and closing ceremonies will be at Cleveland Browns Stadium, golf at Firestone Country Club in Akron, equestrian events at the Summit County Fairgrounds, softball at Firestone Stadium. Ice skating at Cleveland State, looks like track & field at Case. They’re showing something for aquatics but I can’t tell where it is.
You don’t know too far, apparently. The Olympic organizations are pretty rigorous about protecting their name. See here about a theatre that had to drop the name Olympic from their name. Link.
I’d be cautious about that. During the past years, haven’t most of the Gay Games gone bankrupt, leaving unpaid bills to local businesses & suppliers, and the city not being paid the rent for the stadiums & other facilities used?