GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

August 12, 2011 • www.GayPeoples Chronicle.com

Gay Games suit is settled; city to pay Synergy $475K

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-The end of July saw the end of the Cleveland Synergy Foundation's lawsuit against the Federation of Gay Games and other parties involved in the removal of Synergy's license to produce the 2014 Games.

According to Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas dockets, dismissals were filed on July 29 and August 1.

An August 9 Cleveland Synergy Foundation release announced "the resolution of issues relating to hosting rights of the 2014 Gay Games."

Details of the settlement are confidential for most of the defendants, but since the city of Cleveland is subject to public information laws, it was revealed that the city will pay Synergy $475,000.

Synergy filed their suit on September 2, 2010, two months after the Federation of Gay Games notified them that their contract was being terminated.

The Federation said that Cleveland, Akron, their convention and visitors bureaus, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and the LGBT community had until the end of 2010 to organize a new committee to produce the Gay Games.

Shortly afterward, the Cleveland Special Events Corporation was given the license for the 2014 Gay Games.

The Federation said that Synergy had failed to properly file financial documents, bringing them into breach of contract. Synergy alleged that the Federation and the other defendants conspired to take the license from Synergy to get more money and have closer control for the Federation and the other entities involved.

Initial concerns that a lengthy court case might cause the Federation to move the 2014 Games to one of the other

finalist cities, Boston or Washington, D.C., never materialized. The court never issued an injunction barring the Special Events Corp., who were added to the suit, from beginning work on the Games here.

A complete analysis of the suit when it was filed is available at www.gaypeoples chronicle.com/sto-

ries 10/september/0910103.htm.

An August 9 release from Synergy expressed their continued support for the 2014 Games.

"Cleveland Synergy Foundation hopes and believes that Cleveland Special Events Corporation will execute the original vision of the Cleveland Synergy Foundation and the other local partners who brought the games to Cleveland+Akron, as presented in Cologne in 2009," the release reads.

"While Clevleand Synergy Foundation will remain supportive of Cleveland Special Events Corporation and the 2014 Gay Games, it will continue its growing legacy of establishing multiple sport, cultural and philanthropic events designed to enrich the Northeast Ohio and global GLBT community such as SynergyFest which took place July 29-31, 2011."

A website, Stolen GayGames.com, as well as anonymous e-mails sent to the Gay People's Chronicle, contained a number of Synergy depositions and motions. While the release of such documents not available on the Common Pleas Court's website is not illegal, an outside attorney asked about the leak posited that it might be questionable ethically, and that Judge Michael Russo could have issued a gag order.

Ohio has over 28,000 same-sex couples in 2010 Census

by Anthony Glassman

Columbus Out of Ohio counties with 50 or more same-sex couples in the 2010 Census, Franklin County has the largest percentage, while Cuyahoga did not break the top five, according to analysis put out by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles.

Out of the batch of six states whose data analysis was released on July 28, Ohio had nearly double the number of same-sex couples as the next-closest state, Missouri, although in terms of per capita same-sex couples, Ohio was second to last. The six states were Idaho, with .56 percent of households reporting same-sex couples, followed by Wisconsin at .60 percent, Ohio with .62 percent, Missouri with .64 percent, Utah with .66 percent and West Virginia with .69 percent.

In comparison of flat numbers, however, Ohio had over 28,600 same-sex couples, while Missouri had only 15,242.

With the exception of Wisconsin, the states each had between one-fifth and onequarter of those couples raising children in their households. West Virginia, Idaho and Utah at 24 percent, Ohio at 22 percent and Missouri at 21 percent. Only 18 percent of Wisconsin same-sex couples were rang children.

The top five counties in Ohio for percentage of same-sex couples (among counties with 50 or more such couples reported) were Franklin, Hamilton, Montgomery, Lucas and Athens, covering four of the state's major urban areas, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo, along with the home of Ohio university in Athens.

Not on the top five list, however, were Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark or Mahoning. In terms of cities, however, Lakewood's percentage of same-sex couples beat out Columbus', although going by the flat numbers, Columbus clocked in at nearly 4,600 same-sex couples, while Lakewood had 376. They were followed by Bexley, Cleveland Heights and Cincinnati.

Nearly two-thirds of the same-sex couples reporting on the 2010 Census were female, 64 percent, while 36 percent were male. Cuyahoga and Summit counties had a higher concentration of male same-sex couples, while central Ohio showed more female couples.

In the 2000 Census, Ohio had 18,937 same-sex couples, as opposed to 28,602 in 2010. However, differences in the way the

Census was handled accounts for some of that difference; the Census actually showed a higher percentage in 2000 of same-sex couple households than in the 2010 iteration.

In the 2000 Census, all 88 counties had at least one same-sex couple; the information is not yet available on whether that holds true for the 2010 Census.

While the full datasets for the 2010 Census are not yet available, the Census Bureau warns against comparing the 2010 figures to those from the American Community Survey, an ongoing analysis of the population that is released periodically between official decennial surveys. Changes in questions create incongruities when comparing responses.

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