10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE February 22, 2002

charlie'scalendar

To list your non-profit group or club's events, send the date, time, location and contact phone to P.O Box 5426, Cleveland Ohio 44101, or fax to 216-631-1052, or e-mail to calendars@chronohio.com. Each week's calendar shows events in the Upcoming two weeks, plus selected later events. But it's never too early to send in a calendar item, listings for months into the future are posted on our web site, www.gaypeoples chronicle.com. Deadline for each week's calendar is noon on Thursday of the previous week.

Friday, February 22

Paris is Burning, part of the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center's Black History Month film series, Free Zone event for LGBTQ youth 1320, 7 pm, 6600 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, 216651-5428.

COMIC T-Shirt Auction, featuring the Decline, to benefit the Stefanie Spielman Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, doors open at 8 pm, $3 cover after 9 pm, Club 202, 202 E. Long St, Columbus, 614-221-8880, http:// www.comic-online.org, http://www.james

line.com.

Flawless Ball, second annual house ball sponsored by Club 1722, Blackout Unlimited's youth outreach program, doors open at 10pm, $8 before 11 pm, $10 after, Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, 216937-2268, 216-798-8467, http://www.black outunlimited.org.

Friday to Sunday, February 22 to 24 Men in Touch Winter Retreat, sponsored by the Men in Touch program of Community AIDS Network, weekend at Atwood Lake near New Philadelphia for gay and bisexual men to discuss self esteem, healthy relationships and sexual issues in a safe environment, $35 includes accommodations, food and retreat materials; call Jim Chillemi, 330375-2000.

Aria, performance by Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre, part of Cleveland Public Theatre's Danceworks 02 series, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 3 pm, $15, $10 students and seniors, CPT, 6415 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, 216631-2727 ext. 209.

Saturday, February 23

27th Annual Womyn's Variety Show and Fabulous Party, doors open at 6 pm, show at 7:30 pm, 18 and over, women only, The Civic, 3130 Mayfield Rd, Cleveland Heights, 216321-7799.

TaDa Dinner Series: Art Moderne Mood, sponsored by the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center, 8 pm, $35, for reservations and information 216-651-5428.

Making the Connection: A Night Out at Mardi Gras, Stonewall Columbus People of Color Council's annual event, featuring food, prizes, networking and entertainment, $5 advance, $8 at door, 8 pm, OSU Agricultural Administration Building auditorium, 2120 Fyffe Rd, Columbus, 614-299-7764, http:// www.stonewall-columbus.org.

Mardi Gras Madness, benefit for Dayton Pride, $3, 10 pm, Right Corner, 105 E. Third St, Dayton, 937-228-1285.

Rev. Mel White will speak

at P-FLAG Cincinnati's scholarship banquet on March 2.

Mr. Cleveland Leather Contest, second annual competition, winner to compete at International Mr. Leather in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend, doors open at 7 pm, show and contest at 11 pm, limited tickets available, Tool Shed, W. 29th and Detroit Ave, Cleveland, 216-252-2148, 216-961-0544, 216961-0939, lawl@aol.com, mrlthrcleve2001 @aol.com.

Black Out Party, to benefit Mr. Tri-State Leather, featuring raffles, drink specials and door prizes, The Serpent, 4042 Hamilton Ave, Cincinnati, 513-681-6969.

Sunday, February 24

Kendall Ski Trail Hike or Ski, depending on weather, sponsored by Cleveland Out and About, 1 pm, 216-556-4832, cleveland outdrs@aol.com, http://www.akronhome .com/outdoors.

Classic Cleveland Poetry Slam, moved to the fourth Sunday this month, 7 pm, $5, $3 if signed up for open mic, Beachland Ballroom, 11571 Waterloo Rd, Cleveland, 216383-1124.

Monday, February 25

Black Nations/Queer Nations, part of the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center's Black History Month film series, 6:30 pm, 6600 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, 216-651-5428.

Purim Festival, sponsored by Chevrei Tikva, megillah reading, refreshments, costume competition, 7 pm, Unitarian Universalist Society, 2728 Lancashire Rd, Cleveland Heights, 216-932-5551.

Wednesday, February 27

Chili Cook-Off, sponsored by Dayton Lesbian and Gay Center and Miami Valley Community Coalition, bring chili, salad or dessert, 6:30 pm, Faith United Church of Christ, 200 Delaware Ave, Dayton, 937-274-3251, info@equalityistherule.org.

Thursday, February 28

Fundraising Fundamentals, free training session for local nonprofits hosted by AIDS Foundation Miami Valley, sponsored by a grant from the Gill Foundation, 1 pm, United Way of Dayton, 184 Salem Ave, register to 937-461-2437 ext. 26, http://www.afmv.org.

Hampton House Apartments Cleveland's Finest Walking Distance to Edgewater Park, Spacious Suites, Hardwood Floors, Heat & Gas Included, Underground Parking. Monthly Specials. Starting at $440 216-961-7312

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Fairhill Apartments & Fairhill Gardens

Spacious 1 and 2 Bedrooms, Free Heat & Water. Close to CWRU, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals & Shaker Square. Carports & Garages Available

Starting at $535 216-791-8500

speakout

Continued from page 8

make the word any less damaging.

Tacit acceptance of these attitudes, behaviors and words nurtures homophobia in junior high and high school locker rooms. And as we saw in the Tyson incident, homophobia isn't just targeted at gay people.

When young athletes learn they can conflate being gay with being less than a "real" man or woman, they discover a powerful weapon for pummeling their peers into conformity (and, in the case of gay youth, shaming them into the closet).

So when authority figures--whether they're coaches or media professionals— downplay this harassment ("boys will be boys," after all), young people learn that they can act out on homophobia with impunity. The results: an enforced, professionwide closet in sports and public behavior

like that of Mike Tyson to reinforce it. Then the cycle begins anew.

Whether he or anyone else admits it, Mike Tyson's visibility translates into influence—particularly on young people and

athletes.

The sports media's myopic fixation on Tyson's physical brawl and relative blindness to his homophobia send a disturbing message: that highly visible media figures (like Mike Tyson and tennis champion Goran Ivanisevic before him) who publicly use words like faggot will not be held accountable for their overt displays of bigotry.

The "boys will be boys" defense is a convenient excuse for those who would claim that Tyson's homophobic epithets are a nonissue, but the sports media that cover Tyson's every move owe us more than a collective wink and a shrug here. They have a responsibility to examine the sports culture that told Tyson it was okay to say those things in the first place.

Joan M. Garry is executive director of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

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