GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

Ohio's Newspaper for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community • www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com Volume 25, Issue 4 August 14, 2009

Putting our best

foot forward

Sites, prices and Frivolity' impress Gay Games panel; decision Sept. 29

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-The Federation of

Gay Games site selection committee's whirlwind tour of northeast Ohio highlighted the best and brightest of the region, centered around a massive party at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on the shores of Lake Erie.

The three-person committee was shuttled to sporting and social venues in Cleveland and Akron from July 30 to August 2 to support the Cleveland Synergy Foundation's bid to bring the Gay Games to the city in 2014.

The visit to northeast Ohio was

and Washington on August 10. Only Cleveland threw a true party.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 'allowed participants in the free Frivolity party open access to the museum, and an estimated 7,000 people went through the exhibits along the course of the evening.

Stages were set up both in the courtyard in front of the Hall of Fame and in the main lobby, which was filled to bursting with the city's LGBT community and corporate and government supporters in the worlds.

Attendees rubbed shoulders with Cleveland City Council members, including Matt Zone, Joe

BRIAN DEWITT

Downtown councilor Joe Cimperman introduces Mayor Frank Jackson, in tie at right, to welcome the site selection committee to Cleveland.

the first of three city tours for the committee. Later, they went to the other candidate cities, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Those cities' expressions of support for their bids were far less lavish than Cleveland's. Both had public rallies, Boston on August 6

Cimperman and Jay Westbrook, as well as Mayor Frank Jackson.

Entertainment including the North Coast Men's Chorus, the Blazing River Freedom Band, drag kings and queens, fetish Continued on page 5

Inside This Issue

ANTHONY GLASSMAN

The Black Pride picnic on August 9 spread far and wide around Edgewater Park's Upper Pavilion on Lake Erie.

A White Fantasia and a green

picnic highlight Black Pride

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-A scaled-back Black Pride celebration swept through Cleveland last weekend, with the traditional White Fantasia party on August 8 and church services and the family picnic the next day.

Organizers estimate about 60 people at the party, with guests encouraged to wear their finest white clothes.

The event was held at Tizzano's Party Center in Euclid. Guests were treated to a buffet dinner, open bar and dancing for $35.

The relatively low price for the event was a concession to the struggling economy, which was also the driving force behind the abbreviated weekend of events. "It's hard to sell a ticket," said

Lakewood's first lesbian councilor seeks re-election

Page 2

Community Groups ..................

Charlie's Calendar

Resource Directory

Boys in the ETA

Page 6

Classifieds

Lena Roberts, a member of the Black Pride committee. "We tried to keep prices as low as possible. I don't think we made any money, I think we just made our money back."

"The food was good, the music was good," Roberts continued. "Everyone looked great in their white outfits."

The church services, which in the recent past were held at Archwood United Church of Christ on the west side, moved to Mt. Zion UCC in University Circle, where guests had a choice of attending a traditional service at 10 am or a Worship and Praise service at

noon.

The family picnic returned to Edgewater Park on the west side this year, after spending a few years at Kirkland Park in the neareast side of the city and then spending a year on the east side, when attendees wound up at multiple parks because of the divided nature of Gordon Park.

This year, even though the picnic spread far and wide across the upper end of Edgewater Park, it had a more cohesive feel, with the Upper Pavilion filled with partygoers, as well as groups taking up positions away from the center of the action.

Roberts estimates that around 400 people came out for the picnic, which had food provided by Feelgoode.com, a website that serves as a clearinghouse for information and events for

Cleveland's African American LGBT community.

"This year we were lucky to have Feelgoode.com do the food, otherwise we would have had to do it ourselves," said Roberts, who had the backbreaking task of bringing in the beverages and setting up by herself. "That eliminated a lot of work."

Barbecued chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers flowed off the grills in a steady stream, and many people brought in their own food and set up portable grills or used the park's facilities.

Last year's Black Pride was the first to separate the traditional State of Black Gay America symposium from the main body of the festivities, and Roberts believes that they will do the symposium again next February.

The dates for next summer's Black Pride have already been established as August 8 to 10, 2010.

Now all they need are "fresh ideas and more bodies."

"The committee is open for new members," Roberts noted. "Next year, as we say every year, is going to be bigger and better."

She laughed.

"Or at least better. Unless a big donor comes through, or numerous medium-sized donors," she chuckled.

Anyone interested in joining the committee can go to www.bgpcleveland.com or contact Lena Roberts at 216233-1411.