www.GayPeoples Chronicle.com
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May 7, 2010
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
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City warms up for 2014 Gay Games with SynergyFest
by Anthony Glassman
Cleveland-The Cleveland Synergy Foundation, the organization whose successful bid will bring the Gay Games to northeast Ohio in 2014, illustrated their technical prowess from April 23 to 25 with SynergyFest, a three-day multiplesport festival.
Volleyball, tennis, billiards and flag football were all represented in the first of a handful of "practice runs" for the Gay Games.
Cleveland Synergy Foundation board president Mike Readinger believes that, even though Clevelanders have the knowhow to run big national events, it's always helpful to be able to work out the kinks in advance. He pointed to volleyball, bowling and line-dancing tournaments and national conventions to illustrate the expertise Clevelanders bring to the table.
"SynergyFest was a fabulous success," he said. "Essentially, what we were trying to do was rehearsing for the Gay Games. SynergyFest was created with the intent that we would be able to do these multiple-sports festivals, so when we get to
the Gay Games, we're not doing it for the first time."
While putting on a festival with four sports represented, bringing in over 600 people, is no mean feat, the 2014 Gay Games are expected to bring in well over 10,000 people, with 34 sporting events and five major cultural events.
"This year we started smaller and we're going to build it every year as we go forward," Readinger said.
Most of the events were held in the various athletic facilities of Cleveland State University, with the exception of billiards, which was held at the Corner Alley on Euclid Avenue at East 4th Street. The tournament was on the same days as the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend, which has a habit of filling hotels quickly, so Synergy went to the Cleveland Renaissance hotel early to book a block of rooms.
"We actually wound up surpassing our block of rooms, but everyone was able to get a room at the special room rate," Readinger noted. "It worked out perfectly."
In using the hotel attached to Tower City, out-of-town attendees flying into
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Cleveland could take the rapid from the airport directly to Terminal Tower, check in and take part in the registration party. The Cleveland Synergy Foundation's next big event will be the second installment of the Frivolity party, which will be held this year on August 20.
Then, in 2011, SynergyFest will envelop Frivolity in mid-August, with both events and possibly Dancin' in the Streets all occurring on the same weekend, giving attendees an incredibly full three days of sports and celebration.
"In 2011 we will kick off the weekend by having all the participants go to Frivolity to register and then stay and have fun," Readinger said. "Dancing in the Streets will presumably be the same weekend, and it will align more closely with the 2014 Gay Games dates."
With the wide array of sports at SynergyFest, the list of victors and teams placing is understandably long.
In billiards, Tony Perkins took first place, followed in second by Jamie Vacarro.
The Cleveland Rockers were victorious in flag football, with the Pittsburgh
Ironmen coming in second. The Rockers MVP was David DiGiacomo, while Josh Farabee took the MVP title for the Ironmen.
Tater Nagashima was victorious in men's singles tennis, beating out Tim Yee, while in doubles, Bob Vinkler and Ralph Medrano edged out Jerry Griffin and Tim Yee.
The final standings in A/AA division volleyball had Columbus Hot and Messy in the top spot, followed by Columbus FindFred and Pittsburgh 343.
In the BB division, Midwest Mayhem took the title, followed by Columbus Cobras and Toronto 10 Dolla. B division saw Cleveland Synergy Invaders make use of the home field advantage, edging out Toronto Sneaker Pimps and Pittsburgh N'At.
Readinger was effusive in his praise of the competitors, who he said were all at the top of their games, and also noted that SynergyFest director Mary Motley put together an incredible festival. He expressed gratitude to the wide array of sponsors, including Glenbeigh Hospital and realtor John Oskowski.
'Family' group founder is caught with a rent boy
Miami-If there is anything positive to be said about anti-gay religious right zealots, it's that they have really good taste in hustlers.
George Alan Rekers, a Baptist minister who co-founded the Family Research Council and is a board member of the anti-gay National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, got busted by the Miami New Times after returning from a ten-day trip to Europe with a 20-year-old, blond, blue-eyed male prostitute.
Geo
Rekers claimed he did not learn until halfway through the trip that Geo, the nubile Puerto Rican waif, was a hustler. But he met the young man on Rentboy.com, a website with profiles of gigolos.
"He should've been able to tell you that,"
Rekers
Geo told the newspaper. "But that's up to him."
The 61-year old Rekers claimed that he hired the young man because he had surgery and couldn't lift his luggage. However, on their return to Miami, Rekers was pushing his capacious luggage cart.
Both Geo and Rekers denied that they had sex on the trip. Rekers often travels to give talks about teen sexuality, but had no scheduled lectures on the trip, which took
him and his young companion to London and Madrid.
Hawaii lawmakers pass civil unions
Honolulu-The Hawaii legislature brought a seemingly dead civil union bill back to life, passing it through the House of Representatives with a 31-20 vote on April 29.
The bill appeared to have died in the House in January, but then the Senate passed it with an 18-7 vote later that month.
Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican who cannot run again because of term limits, has 90 days to veto, sign the bill, or allow it to become law without her signature.
The bill grants all the state rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law to same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
House Majority Leader Blake Oshiro opted on the last day of the legislative session to bring the bill back, after it had been indefinitely postponed in the House.
Hawaii was one of the first two states to pass a constitutional marriage ban amendment in 1998 (the other was Alaska). However, its measure does not actually ban marriage. Instead it allows the legislature to do so, which they promptly did. Thus, lawmakers retain the power to enact civil unions, or even full marriage.
Abuse alleged in couple separation
Guerneville, Calif.-The suit against Sonoma County by an elderly gay man who was forced into a nursing home while county officials sold off his property is turning even uglier as more facts in the case emerge.
County officials believed Clay Greene was abusing his partner, Harold Scull. Scull fell down the stairs in their home, and was taken to the hospital. Greene says that Scull showed signs of dementia and had been drinking when he tripped over the front step.
An ambulance took Scull to the hospital, where he spent three weeks before being moved to an assisted living facility before dying a few months later.
The Public Conservator's office kept Greene from visiting, despite legal documents drawn up by the couple, and forcibly committed Greene to a separate nursing home. He never saw Scull again before the latter's death.
While Greene was in the nursing home, the county sold off the couple's home and possessions.
The executor of Scull's estate, Jannette Biggerstaff, wrote in a letter to the Santa Clara Press-Democrat that the allegations of abuse are outrageous.
"In the decades I knew this couple, I never witnessed abuse, and I am firmly convinced that no such abuse took place. What I have witnessed is the diabolical behavior of the county, which treated this couple shamefully and robbed them of their home, lifetime of treasures, freedom and what should have been their loving last days
together," she wrote. "I am confident that Greene will be vindicated, despite the county's efforts to malign his reputation in the press."
"The full story will come out at trial," she concluded.
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