National
Gay Games trial set for July in Cleveland
Lawsuit says games run by straight ‘front group’
A lawsuit filed last fall by a Cleveland-based foundation contesting a decision by leaders of the Gay Games to terminate its contract to operate the 2014 LGBT athletic event is scheduled to go to trial July 25.
A spokesperson for the Federation of Gay Games said the organization remains hopeful that a settlement can be reached with the Cleveland Synergy Foundation before the start of the trial.
But the spokesperson, Kelley Stevens, said plans for the quadrennial LGBT sports competition are moving forward and the group is confident the Gay Games will take place in the Cleveland-Akron area as scheduled in the summer of 2014.
“Because there’s a completely different entity running the plans for the 2014 games, they’re not spending any of their time on this,” he said, referring to the lawsuit. “So things are moving ahead as planned.”
The Cleveland Synergy Foundation charges in its lawsuit that the FGG, the City of Cleveland, a high-level city official, and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission conspired to illegally terminate its contract to operate the 2014 games. The Sports Commission is a non-gay organization that initially pledged to help the Synergy Foundation promote the games.
The lawsuit asks a judge with the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas to force the FGG to reinstall Synergy Foundation as the operator of the games. It also calls for compensatory damages against the FGG and the city “in an amount to be proven at trial” plus interest, fees and possible punitive damages.
The FGG says it terminated the agreement because Synergy failed to fulfill its obligations under the terms of the agreement. It says it acted legally because the agreement included a provision allowing the FGG to invoke a termination provision for non-fulfillment of the contract.
In October, the FGG announced it was replacing Synergy with a newly formed non-profit organization called the Cleveland Special Events Group Corp. through an exclusive licensing agreement. The group consists of LGBT and non-LGBT organizations and individuals from the Cleveland area.
Richard Haber, the attorney representing Cleveland Synergy Foundation, said the new entity appears to be a front group for the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, which he said has emerged as the “behind the scenes” operator of the Gay Games.
He said testimony in depositions given as part of the lawsuit shows that the Sports Commission and Cleveland city official Valerie McCall from the mayor’s office are actually running games operations.
According to Haber, this appears to violate the Gay Games’ longstanding policy of having an LGBT organization in the host city operate the games. The Sports Commission clearly is not an LGBT organization, he said.
Stevens said such a claim doesn’t merit a comment from the FGG.
“I’m not going to comment on the Cleveland Synergy Foundation’s claims,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of claims. So I’m not going to comment on what they think.”
In a competitive bidding process held in 2009, the FGG awarded the games contract to Cleveland Synergy on behalf of the City of Cleveland. The group won the contract over competing bids submitted by LGBT sports groups from D.C. and Boston.
The D.C. group, Metropolitan Washington Gaymes, Inc., has said the FGG’s subsequent decision to oust Cleveland Synergy from operating the games meant that the games should go to D.C., which had been picked as the first runner up for the games.
FGG officials dispute Washington Gaymes’ interpretation of the bidding process, saying the FGG has authority to keep the games in Cleveland even though it was forced to oust Synergy Foundation as the operator of the Gay Games.
Meanwhile, in its court filings and depositions, Cleveland Synergy says it has uncovered e-mails and accounts of private conversations among Cleveland Sports Commission officials making anti-gay remarks and jokes about gays.
Haber said the findings, uncovered during the lawsuit’s discovery process, show that a historically LGBT-run sporting event may now be in the hands of a straight organization whose leaders are, at best, insensitive, to the LGBT community.
Cyd Zeigler, editor and publisher of the blog Out Sports, said he doubts that any of this will make a difference to the overwhelming majority of the 15,000 LGBT athletes expected to turn out for the Gay Games in Cleveland. FGG officials say a combined total of more than 50,000 people are expected to either participate in or attend the 2014 Gay Games.
“Why would anyone care whether the Gay Games are organized by a bunch of gay people or a bunch of straight people?” he said. “Your average gay swimmers and gay softball players just don’t care about any of this.”
Added Ziegler, “If the event is fun, if the event breaks even financially, and the athletes and their friends have fun the event is going to be a success, just as it has in nearly all prior years,” he said.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with the Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality — about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
“It is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.”
Federal Government
Republican state AGs challenge Biden administration’s revised Title IX policies
New rules protect LGBTQ students from discrimination
Four Republicans state attorneys general have sued the Biden-Harris administration over the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX policies that were finalized April 19 and carry anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in public schools.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday, which is led by the attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee, follows a pair of legal challenges from nine Republican states on Monday — all contesting the administration’s interpretation that sex-based discrimination under the statute also covers that which is based on the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The administration also rolled back Trump-era rules governing how schools must respond to allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which were widely perceived as biased in favor of the interests of those who are accused.
“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “In the decades since its adoption, Title IX has been universally understood to protect the privacy and safety of women in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms.”
“Florida is suing the Biden administration over its unlawful Title IX changes,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on social media. “Biden is abusing his constitutional authority to push an ideological agenda that harms women and girls and conflicts with the truth.”
After announcing the finalization of the department’s new rules, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters, “These regulations make it crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights.”
The new rule does not provide guidance on whether schools must allow transgender students to play on sports teams corresponding with their gender identity to comply with Title IX, a question that is addressed in a separate rule proposed by the agency in April.
LGBTQ and civil rights advocacy groups praised the changes. Lambda Legal issued a statement arguing the new rule “protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and other abuse,” adding that it “appropriately underscores that Title IX’s civil rights protections clearly cover LGBTQ+ students, as well as survivors and pregnant and parenting students across race and gender identity.”
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Blade Summer Kickoff Party returns to Rehoboth
Andy Cohen coming to D.C.
Want to dance for a good cause?
Calendar: May 3-9
HHS reverses Trump-era anti-LGBTQ rule
4th Circuit rules gender identity is a protected characteristic
Pride season has begun
PHOTOS: Capital Pride Pageant
