Local
Gay Games ousts organizer, but event stays in Cleveland
Some say decision violates rules, event should move to D.C.
The international LGBT sports organization that picked Cleveland over D.C. to host the 2014 Gay Games announced Tuesday that it has revoked its contract with the Cleveland foundation it chose to organize the games.
And in an action questioned by D.C. sports groups, the Federation of Gay Games also said it “remains committed” to keeping the quadrennial event in Cleveland, even though some people believe its rules call for awarding the games to the organization and city whose bid it selected as the runner up.
The FGG selected the Metropolitan Washington Gaymes, Inc., a coalition of D.C.-area LGBT sports groups, as the runner up for the games last year, when it announced it had picked the Cleveland Synergy Foundation as the host for the 2014 event in Cleveland.
“As the runner up city, we expressed our hope that they would follow what we’ve interpreted as the accepted procedure, which is if the contract could not be executed [in Cleveland] they would go to the runner up,” said Brent Minor, president of Team D.C., one of the LGBT sports organizations that’s part of Metropolitan Washington Gaymes.
“So this is news to us,” Minor said. “It’s very disappointing.”
Minor and Vince Micone, president of Metropolitan Washington Gaymes, said the Gaymes group would consider whether to question the decision and possibly seek to reverse it when the FGG General Assembly meets in Cologne, Germany later this month.
The General Assembly is the organization’s full governing body and can overrule action by the FGG board, which is believed to have made the decision to stick with Cleveland for the 2014 Gay Games.
The General Assembly meeting is set to take place after the 2010 Gay Games, now being held in Cologne, concludes Aug. 7.
But Kelly Stevens, a member of the FGG board and spokesperson for the organization, issued a statement from Cologne disputing Minor and Micone’s interpretation of the rules related to runner up status.
“The site selection rules were set up to provide a process in case an original license agreement with a host city could not be reached,” he told the Blade. “They are not written to award the games to another city in case of change of management once planning has begun. The FGG will honor the vote for Cleveland as the host of the 2014 Gay Games.
“Naturally, the FGG will discuss the situation at its annual meeting,” he said. “We will not be issuing any further comments. Our time [now] is devoted to Cologne.”
In announcing its decision to oust the Cleveland Synergy Foundation as the Gay Games organizing entity, the FGG reversed an announcement one week earlier saying it would not disclose its decision on the Synergy Foundation until after the General Assembly meeting.
The decision to revoke Synergy’s license didn’t come as a surprise to Gay Games observers, who have read reports coming from Cleveland about the FGG’s and Cleveland city officials’ dissatisfaction with the foundation. Some press reports have noted Synergy faced problems related to financial “irregularities.”
An official with Cleveland’s Office of Economic Development, which was overseeing Cleveland’s pledge of $700,000 in financial support for the Gay Games, said in a letter leaked to the media that Synergy had failed to meet deadlines for submitting required reports to the city.
“The Federation of Gay Games ended its relationship with Cleveland Synergy Foundation, effective 6 July 2010,” said the FCC in its Aug. 3 statement. “The FGG remains committed to the host city of Cleveland, and the State of Ohio to host Gay Games IX in 2014.
“Cleveland city officials and a delegation of regional organizations and supporters will accept the flag of the Federation of Gay Games in Cologne, Germany on 7 August 2010 at the closing ceremony from the city officials of Cologne, Germany.”
It adds, “The FGG, cooperating with its Cleveland partners, continues to work hard to ensure that planning for the 2014 Gay Games progresses at a satisfactory pace.”
Cleveland city officials said they were scrambling to put together a new entity to organize and operate the games. Many of the officials involved with Synergy Foundation’s initial plans for the games were in Cologne this week attending this year’s Gay Games and taking steps to officially launch plans for the 2014 games.
D.C. activists following the developments said it was unprecedented for the FGG to agree to hold the games in a city without first approving a detailed bid by an organization. Many observers familiar with the Gay Games believe the organizations selected to host the event in nearly all previous years have been LGBT groups or coalitions that were picked to hold both the games and LGBT cultural events that traditionally have accompanied the Gay Games.
“Informed speculation and conventional wisdom is increasingly lining up around the [Greater Cleveland] Sports Commission eventually being awarded the license to hold the 2014 Games,” reported Gay People’s Chronicle, an Ohio LGBT news publication.
The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is a non-gay group.
Although Cleveland officials were expected to carry forward the plans submitted by Synergy Foundation and approved by the FGG last year, Cleveland spokesperson Andrea Taylor told the Blade on Tuesday that she could not comment on specific plans or details.
Minor said he would not object to a straight organization getting the license. But he noted that historically, gay groups have won the bids to organize the games because FGG leaders determined they were most sensitive to the cultural, social and civil rights goals of the FGG and the LGBT community.
According to Minor, the FGG General Assembly specifically voted at its 2009 meeting to approve the Metropolitan Washington Gaymes as the runner up for the 2014 Gay Games. He said it was “widely understood” that the Games would go to the runner up group and its home city should the organization winning the bid fail to fulfill its obligations under its licensing contract.
“We certainly support the Gay Games movement. And we think it’s important that they abide by their own rules and that they abide by the general principles of fair play and the will of the General Assembly, which was quite clear,” he said.
“So I think the Federation owes Washington and indeed the whole Gay Games community a real explanation on this,” he said.
District of Columbia
Adams Morgan queer bar broken into and vandalized
Sinners and Saints targeted Thursday night
On Thursday night, Sinners and Saints, a popular queer bar in Adams Morgan and the only QTBIPOC (queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and people of color) bar in D.C., was broken into and vandalized with homophobic slurs, according to a recent Instagram post from the establishment.
“Last night, our bar — the only QTBIPOC bar in DC — was broken into and hate-crimed during DC Black Pride, a time meant for celebration, resilience, and joy — and on the eve of WorldPride 2025. We are heartbroken, but we are not broken,” the post read.
The statement was accompanied by a slideshow showing the damage: the front iron gate door and its glass counterpart shattered, glass strewn across the floor, and the word “FAGGOT” scrawled in black ink on the wall.
“This space exists to protect and celebrate queer and trans BIPOC communities, and this attack only strengthens our resolve,” the post continued. “We will NOT be silenced. We will NOT be intimidated. We will NOT back down.”
“To those who tried to harm us: hate fuels our defiance. To our community: we see you, we love you, and we will continue fighting for you. Sinners and Saints is resistance. We will rebuild. We will STAY OPEN. And we will keep our doors — and hearts — wide open for all who need refuge.”
They ended the message with a call to action: “Stand with us. Share this. Show up. We keep us safe.”
“What happened was truly disheartening, but we won’t be silenced,” co-owner Fazeel Ashraf told the Washington Blade. “QTBIPOC spaces are so important in this current political climate. I’d love to do a phone interview with one of my fellow partners.”
Despite the heartbreak surrounding the break-in and what Ashraf described as “a hate crime,” the LGBTQ community quickly rallied in the comments, offering support and assistance.
“Please let us know how we can help!” wrote Nik Battaglia. “I’m a handy queer with handy queer friends — I can fix shit, paint shit, and am happy to stand guard outside.”
Even national figures chimed in.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Laganja Estranja commented, “Incredible response! I believe in you. Sending so much love and strength.”
The Blade reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department regarding the break-in but has not received a response.
To view the damage, and some of the LGBTQ community’s supportive statements, visit the Sinners and Saints’s Instagram page.
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Congratulations to Raffi Freedman-Gurspan on being appointed Associate Director, Federal Funding & Infrastructure Office, at the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration & Finance. Freedman-Gurspan will be returning to her hometown of Boston and joining Gov. Maura Healey’s Administration. Freedman-Gurspan served in both the Obama and Biden administrations as well as worked in LGBTQ and redistricting advocacy during her 11 years in D.C.
Freedman-Gurspan was the first openly transgender person on the White House staff when she worked for President Obama. She most recently served at the U.S. Department of Transportation in former Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s office, as Deputy Director of Public Engagement. Previously she worked with the National Redistricting Action Fund/The All On The Line Campaign, as Deputy States Director. She worked for the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) as Director of External Relations. In the Obama White House, she worked in the Office of Public Engagement, as Senior Associate Director. She was the White House Liaison to the LGBTQ community responsible for management of all public inquiries on matters regarding LGBTQ people, including recommending public responses to senior leadership, assisting in drafting administration talking points, and coordinating stakeholder engagement with the White House offices. She worked with the White House, Presidential Personnel Office (PPO), as Outreach and Recruitment Director.
Prior to that she was on the staff of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, House of Representatives Office of State Rep. Carl Sciortino, as legislative director, and worked for the City of Somerville, Health Department, Office of Commissions, Somerville, Mass., as LGBTQ Liaison.
Freedman-Gurspan served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the Presidentially Appointed Council; and as a member, and Board Member, Boston University, College of Arts and Sciences, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Norwegian, concentration in Nordic Studies, from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
District of Columbia
Murdered Israeli embassy officials were supporters of D.C.’s LGBTQ synagogue
Bet Mishpachah calls fatal shooting outside Capital Jewish Museum ‘devastating’
The two Israeli embassy officials who were shot to death outside D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday evening, May 21, were strong supporters of Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ supportive synagogue, according to a statement it released.
“We are especially devastated by the loss of our dear colleague and friend of Bet Mishpachah, Sarah Milgram, and her soon to be fiancé, Yaron Lischinsky,” the LGBTQ synagogue said in a May 22 statement.
“Sarah was the liaison between Bet Mishpachah and the Israeli Embassy, working closely with our staff and clergy,” the statement says. “Her warmth, professionalism, and deep commitment to building bridges within the Jewish community made her not only a trusted partner but a beloved part of our extended congregational family,” according to the statement.
A statement also released on May 22 by the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia says Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, 30, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder along with other weapons related charges in connection with the shooting deaths of Milgram and Lischinsky.
Officials with the D.C. police and the FBI, which has joined D.C. police in continuing to investigate the case, have said Rodriquez arrived in D.C. from Chicago one day prior to the shooting and appears to have targeted an event taking place at the Capital Jewish Museum for violence at the time it was hosting an event called “Young Diplomats Reception,” in which Israeli Embassy officials were in attendance.
Police and FBI officials have said Rodriguez allegedly shot Milgrim and Lischinsky after they left the Capital Jewish Museum at the conclusion of the event. The museum is located at 575 3rd Street, N.W.
“Surveillance footage reportedly shows Rodriquez walking past the victims before turning and firing multiple rounds,” the U.S. Attorney’s statement says. “After the victims fell, he allegedly continued firing at close range, including as one attempted to crawl away,” it says, adding, “Investigators recovered a 9 mm handgun and 21 spent shell casings at the scene.”
Police have said Rodriguez walked into the Capital Jewish Museum after the shooting and was detained by security guards until D.C. police arrived. Witnesses said he began to shout, “free, free Palestine” before police took him into custody.
“Make no mistake, this attack was targeted, antisemitic violence,” said Steven Jenson, an FBI assistant director working on the investigation. “The FBI will continue to pursue all leads and use all available resources to investigate this heinous murder,” he said in the statement.
The fatal shooting took place five days after the Capital Jewish Museum opened a special exhibition called “LGBT Jews in the Federal City” on May 16. “This landmark exhibition explores a turbulent century of celebrations, activism, and change in the nation’s capital by D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community,” the museum said in a statement announcing the exhibition.
Photos and documents related to Bet Mishpachah make up a prominent part of the exhibition.
During a May 22 press conference organized by the U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, to provide an update on the investigation into the two murders, Pirro and FBI official Jensen referred to the two murders as a hate crime and terrorist act.
In response to a question from the Washington Blade asking if investigators were looking into whether the LGBTQ exhibition at the Capital Jewish Museum might have played some role in Gonzales’s motive for targeting the museum, Pirro responded to the question.
“So, we are looking into absolutely everything,” she said. “There is so much information we’re looking at. And I must tell you, coming from New York, I’ve never seen the cooperation and coordination that I’m seeing here. It was immediate. It was instant. It was coordinated. And my hat’s off to this area. We’re going to clean it up, thank you,” she said in ending the press conference.
Josh Maxey, Bet Mishpachah’s executive director, said he and Israeli Embassy official Milgram became friends during their two-and-a-half-year interaction working on joint events between the embassy and Bet Mishpachah.
“This became a wonderful two and a half years journey of putting events together, of hosting events together, doing different programs for the community,” Maxey told the Blade. Among the activities the two worked on, he said, was the embassy’s annual LGBTQ Pride event.
Maxie said his own grieving over the death of Milgram and her boyfriend Lischinsky was heightened by the fact that he spoke with her by phone on the day of the shooting shortly before she arrived at the Jewish Museum over plans about this year’s LGBTQ Pride events.
“Sarah really championed us to be included in Israeli events,” Maxey said. “And so, I am just devastated that this true embodiment of an ally was so viciously and violently taken away from us.”
Adams Morgan queer bar broken into and vandalized
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