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Gay Games in Cleveland

Gero Schließ, Cleveland / alAugust 15, 2014

The former steel city of Cleveland is playing host to the Gay Games. It's not just about sporting accomplishments: the local LGBT community is hoping the games will further their cause too.

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Gay Games 2014
Image: picture alliance/ZUMA Press

Theresa Beyerle can barely hide her enthusiasm: "Well first of all, if you live in northeast Ohio, who would ever have thought that the games would come to northeast Ohio? I would never have," says the part-time bodybuilder and university professor.

She works in Akron, a city 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Cleveland, which is co-host of the 2014 Gay Games.

"As someone who has been 'out' for maybe 33 years, to have watched life change in the past 30-some years has been absolutely fantastic," Beyerle tells DW. "To have Gay Games, to be able to participate and not worry about going back to work and getting fired, it's pretty exciting. And I wanted to be a part of that."

Like many other hobby athletes in the region, Beyerle definitely wanted to be part of proceedings at this year's Gay Games. Around 10 months ago she started training as a bodybuilder and is now due to take part in the competition, against experienced athletes.

Theresa Beyerle Bodybuilding Gay Games
Theresa Beyerle (right) says that there was no way she was going to miss out on competing at the Gay GamesImage: Rick Beyerle

Improving an image

In the past, the Gay Games have been held in liberal cities with strong lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities like San Francisco, New York, Amsterdam and Cologne. The move to the traditionally conservative city of Cleveland is something new.

The city authorities are hoping the event, which this year will attract 8,000 athletes from nearly 40 countries, can really change the public perception of the city. The once rich, now struggling former steel-manufacturing hub, is in urgent need of an image boost.

And it's also seen as a chance for the LGBT community in Ohio. The welcome message from President Barack Obama at the opening ceremony made it clear that discrimination against gays isn't just an issue in Africa or Russia, it also remains relevant domestically in the US.

Discrimination in Ohio

"We are also a city that is in a state that doesn't allow for gay marriage. We are in a city that is in a state that can fire you for being gay without any repercussions," Democrat lawmaker Joe Cimperman told DW. "We firmly believe that having the Gay Games in Cleveland will begin to help end the discrimination in the state of Ohio toward the LGBT community."

But not everyone is a fan of the games coming to their city. "I think there are still plenty of people who don't like gay people," says Theresa Beyerle shortly after competing in the bodybuilding competition. "I was just listening to the radio on my way to Cleveland this morning and there were some people who said they think it's terrible that the Games are going on, and that news media ... that everyone is talking about the Games."

Recently, taxi drivers in Cleveland refused to put advertisements on their cars for the Gay Games. Many were Muslims and did it for religious reasons, according to Nel Nwoke. The taxi driver reports that those who complained got moved to other parts of the city. Nwoke himself is Muslim, from Nigeria, but says he doesn't have any problem with the Gay Games in Cleveland.

Gay Games in Cleveland USA
A host of theater and cultural events, as well as parties, are planned for the Gay Games tooImage: DW/G. Schließ

The sporting factor

More than 35 different disciplines will be contested at this year's games. Traditional sports such as swimming, ice hockey and football are on the program - but also disciplines like ballroom dancing with same sex partners.

Marc Giguere works as a personnel manager at a regional bank but is taking part in the games in the powerlifting competition. The aim is to lift weights in three ways – squat, bench and deadweight.

Just like Theresa Beyerle, Giguere never saw himself as an athlete before the games came to town.

"The Gay Games have made an athlete out of Marc," says Giguere's partner, Don Hill. "I think this is true of sport whether you're LGBT or not, but particularly if you're LGBT, sport gives you that added confidence - a 'spark' that is important in all areas of life."

Back at his home in a suburb of Cleveland, Marc Giguere shows off his medals, saying that training for his sport has now become "a central part of my life." He's in the gym now five times a week, often before work at 5:30am.

He says that despite being the only openly gay man at his gym he received a lot of encouragement from his training buddies. Twenty of them came to watch his event at the Gay Games. That was really touching, he admits.

Gay Games in Cleveland
Marc Giguere takes part in the powerlifting competition at the Gay GamesImage: Don Hill

Giguere also sees the Gay Games as historic, "particulary for this part of the United States." But still, the event isn't attracting many young athletes.

"We don't see a lot of younger participants and a lot of younger people attending," says Beyerle. "We see mostly people who are maybe in their thirties, forties, fifties, or older."

Beyerle speculates that this generational trend could be explained by the fact that life used to be more difficult for LGBT communities in the US; she then starts to change her own stance on this issue while pondering the phenomenon.

"I was going to say 'that's sad,' but no! That's not sad, that's actually fantastic. If the younger people feel they don't need it, more power to them! Maybe life is more mainstream for them."