The Gay Games Going on in Chicago

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THE GAY GAMES

Why a Gay Games?
To the tens of thousands of participants and visitors to Chicago, it's more than just politics and athletics, it's a celebration


By Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporter

With every stop the Gay Games have made across the globe for the last 24 years, a simple question has followed.

Why do gay people need their own Olympic-style competition?

"It's a fair question from the straight community," said Derek Liecty, a longtime member of the Federation of Gay Games board of directors. "But the gay and lesbian community already knows the answer."

The answer, it turns out, is equal parts political, social and, oh yes, athletic.

For Esera Tuaolo, the Games are an antidote to the nine years he spent as a professional football player with a secret life.

For gay-rights activist Rick Garcia, they are about letting the straight world know that gay people can indeed play basketball--or do any number of things that don't include the color pink or Cher's music.

For Sandra Urquiaga, they mean she can play a competitive game of women's flag football without worrying about sideways glances from teammates while her partner cheers her on.

The seventh Gay Games -- affectionately known to fans as the Gaymes -- officially began Saturday night when athletes from 65 countries including the United States streamed onto Soldier Field for opening ceremonies. With international flags flying and sustained cheers from the crowd, the mass of athletes filled up most of the field. Over the next week they will compete in 30 sports, including the typical (track, swimming) and the not so typical (same-sex pairs figure skating and country dancing).

Held every four years, most recently in Sydney, the Games bring top athletes alongside novices to compete for gold, silver and bronze medals. But everyone gets a medal just for showing up, and that, advocates say, is the point.

The heart of the Gay Games is not just winning or even being surrounded by gay people (5 percent of the competitors are straight), participants and organizers say. It is self-empowerment in a world where homophobia has dropped precipitously but is far from gone.

"What the Games mean depends on which America you live in," said Rex Wockner, a San Diego-based journalist whose work appears in dozens of gay newspapers. "If you live in a place where you can't walk down the street holding hands or kiss your partner goodbye at the airport, a gay Olympics is really something to treasure and remember for a lifetime."

The Games were founded in San Francisco in 1982 by former Olympian Tom Waddell, who died in 1987 of AIDS-related complications. In Gay Games circles, he is discussed with reverence.

Popularity on the rise

Most observers agree that the conditions leading gay athletes to create a place where they could compete openly and without stereotyping have improved since the first competition -- but not enough for the Games to disappear.

Instead, the popularity of gay athletics is booming.

Year-round gay sports leagues exist throughout Chicago and other major cities, while Olympic-style events are springing up around the world -- the Sun Games in Madrid, the PrideGames in Manchester, England. Later this month, a new event called OutGames will be staged in Montreal, where the Gay Games were to be held until a falling-out between local organizers and the Gay Games' governing body killed the deal.

The attraction of a gay Olympic-style event, participants say, is no different than what inspired the World Maccabiah Games for Jewish athletes, the Special Olympics or the Senior Games -- commonality.

Some say the payoff can be even greater for gay male athletes than for lesbians, who may be more likely to find acceptance when they participate in sports.

"We were always the tomboys growing up and athletics was our outlet," said Marcia Hill, 48, of Albany Park, who will compete in the Gay Games softball tournament. "A lot of times, gay men weren't athletic growing up, and they're just getting into it now because it's finally safe and fun for them.

"I'm working with four guys who haven't picked up a bat since they were 8 years old because they hated Little League. They didn't know they could enjoy playing softball."

Participants acknowledge that sexuality doesn't mean much when swimming 100 meters or throwing a softball, but it can make a difference at other times. Take the on-field chatter, for example.

"How often do heterosexual guys make comments about hot chicks on the playing field?" asked Charlie Carson, vice president of operations for the Federation of Gay Games. "How does that make people feel who aren't interested in talking about hot chicks, but who want to talk about hot guys? It maybe sounds facetious, but it's amazing how much homophobia is still in the locker room."

Indeed, advocates point to the relatively few numbers of professional athletes who are openly gay. After tennis great Martina Navratilova and basketball player Sheryl Swoopes, the list gets short. It's also particularly light on men.

Years of keeping quiet

During his nine-year football career in the 1990s, mostly with the Minnesota Vikings, Tuaolo said he had to keep quiet about the man he calls his husband, and with whom he is raising twins. Tuaolo, 38, said he never told anyone in the National Football League he was gay -- no coaches, no teammates.

"Every time the topic of homosexuality came up, I saw hate and rage," he said. "Calling someone a `fag' is the worst thing you can do in football."

The irony of kicking off the Games in what is traditionally a den of masculinity was not lost on the nearly 300-pound former defensive lineman, who was slated to sing the Gay Games anthem, "Take the Flame," at the opening ceremony.

"It's the first opportunity I've had to march into Soldier Field as a gay man and as a gay athlete," he said last week. "It's going to be incredible."

Even those who had opposed bringing the Games to Chicago in 2006 are lining up to support the event now. Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, feared city organizers wouldn't have enough time to raise money and plan for the Games. Though still skeptical, Garcia said he wants the Games to succeed because "they dispel a lot of myths and stereotypes."

Events such as the annual Pride Parade often come off in the media as flamboyant and extravagant -- which they certainly are at times. But those images can push gays and lesbians further from mainstream America, Garcia said, while the sight of 10 gay men playing basketball looks perfectly normal.

"It makes your neighbor look like something other than a walking sex machine," Garcia said. "Suddenly you are seeing gay people in sports you usually don't identify with gay folks. I have nothing but the highest regard for the Gay Games."

Controversy often follows the Gay Games, but even that can end up working in their favor. As the suburb of Crystal Lake wrestled over whether to allow the rowing competition to take place there, an emotional debate erupted in which critics of homosexuality spoke freely.

But airing the issues ultimately tends to lead to greater tolerance, said Gay Games officials, who predict that by the time the competition is over, many residents will wonder what all the fuss was about.

"I've seen this all before," said Carson, of the Gay Games board. "For the most part, what people remember is that the experience of the Games turns out positively. What they carry with them in the end is that this wasn't such a big deal. And to the people participating, they remember it forever."

jbnoel@tribune.com
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