The Federation of Gay Games took a leap of faith when they chose Cleveland and Akron to host
the 2014 Games, bypassing such larger cities as Boston, Washington, DC, and
Miami.
Make no mistake:
Ohio is a right-of-center state. Not
extremist like Kansas or Mississippi, but certainly no Massachusetts or
California either. Same-sex marriage
remains unrecognized here, and with the exception of a few forward thinking
municipalities, you can still be fired from your job for being gay. I’ve stated it before and will do so again: the thing I like least about our city is that it’s part of Ohio. At times, I wish the Cleveland-Columbus corridor could secede from Ohio and form our own state; West Connecticut, perhaps. That said, Ohio’s anti-gay element largely
remained at home and vented their homophobia in the Cleveland.com comments
section, save for one lonely sign-holder, Courtney Hayes of Washington, DC,
seen on the corner of East 9th and Lakeside.
I find it
amusing that the Cuyahoga County GOP is portraying itself as open because it
did not oppose the Gay Games coming to Cleveland. In essence, the GOP position is: “Come to
Northeast Ohio and spend your money here, but don’t expect your marriage to be
recognized and if you move here, it will be legal to fire you from your job for
being gay. Better yet, just come here,
spend your money, and leave.” I hope
Northeast Ohio’s LGBT voters will bear that in mind this November.
The
people of Cleveland proved that we’re up to the task of hosting the Gay Games
with style and a sense of friendliness that would have left the other
contenders in the dust. Attendees from
all areas of the country – indeed the world – commented on what a fine city
Cleveland is and how friendly the people here are. One attendee from England summed it up nicely
when he told me “Every negative thing I’ve heard about Cleveland over the years
is a bloody lie – this is a lovely city”.
I think one of the reasons why the games were so successful here is that
Northeast Ohio – and Cleveland in particular – were hungry to prove they could
host, with distinction, an event which drew people from the world, and thus
demonstrate to the world that the Cleveland of burning rivers, a deserted downtown, and defeatism are part of a past which has deservedly been buried. I doubt Boston, Miami, or the District of
Columbia would have been so hungry to please.
The
welcoming atmosphere was enhanced by the many local organizations that lent their
support. Among these was the Cleveland Orchestra, which performed a concert at Severance Hall that was attended by many GG9 participants.
This was part of the orchestra’s Summers at Severance series, where they played
an abbreviated program (one hour, with no intermission), serving cocktails
before, and with a party afterward. The all-Beethoven program included
the Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Symphony No. 4, and the ChoralFantasy. I was amused by the reaction of the largely out of town audience,
which applauded between the Symphony’s movements. At one point, I
overheard a couple from New York, praising the visual and aural beauty of
Severance Hall, and commiserating about how poorly the New York Philharmonic
sounded compared to the Cleveland Orchestra. It was all well played, of course, but I was
left wondering about the program: Beethoven is certainly easy to market,
but wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to include LGBT composers, like
Tchaikovsky and Barber?
There was
another area where there was room for improvement: There were no food
concessions at the Cleveland Convention Center, despite all-day events
there. Nor were any of Cleveland’s renowned
food trucks to be seen. Since outside
food was prohibited at the Center, participants and spectators were compelled
to trek to nearby locations – impractical when the weather didn’t cooperate. Ironically, food trucks and increased food
concessions were in evidence at the festival area on Mall C during the closing
ceremonies, by which time a number of the participants had left.
It has
been reported that the attendance was lighter than at previous Gay Games in Chicago
and Cologne. This is not
surprising. I’d wager that most of the
reduction in attendance was not from the athletes, but from those for whom the
Gay Games are more of a party and a week-long opportunity to “hook-up.” Certainly, all the team athletic events we
attended appeared to have a full complement of participants. But there is a certain breed of gay man who
exists only to party, and I saw a number of those over this past week. I spotted one such person as we made our way
to the opening ceremony at the Q. He was
wearing a cut-off tank top, flip-flops, and shorts so skimpy I was
tempted to ask him if he’d dare dress that way in front of his mother. Then there were the 40 and 50-somethings who
were trying (and failing) to pass for their counterparts of a younger
generation. There’s little in life as
tragic as an aging boy-toy. They
reminded me of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, concealing her age with ten
inches of makeup. While such characters
as Desmond are regarded as camp icons, let us remember the character herself is
delusional, homicidal, and not someone to emulate. (In similar fashion, it’s amusing to see
angry white men post pictures of Howard Beale in “I’m mad as hell and not going
to take it anymore” mode, not realizing the character is a suicidal paranoiac
who’s being used as a tool by his corporate masters.)
But I digress. Let's get back to the subject at hand, the Gay Games.
But I digress. Let's get back to the subject at hand, the Gay Games.
Dan &
I attended a number of the athletic events, particularly volleyball where
the Puerto Rico Golden Boys earned the division Gold medal.
We also saw the wrestling clinic where Hudson Taylor was a special
guest. It was moving to see this
straight founder of Athlete Ally speak with simple eloquence about acceptance
of gays in the sports world.
Northeast
Ohio’s successful hosting of the Gay Games augers well for the 2016 Republican National Convention. While I don’t plan
on supporting their ticket, I’m delighted they’ve chosen Cleveland; to quote
their former party leader, “Bring ‘em on”.
