Tom Nobbe came to Akron on Thursday to say hosting the Gay Games next year is about more than just money.
“Yes, the economic impact will be big,” he told the Akron Roundtable at Quaker Station. “But even more important is how the games will be a catalyst for change on a personal level. And I guess this is where the Gay Games can be a little different from the Olympics and other major events.”
In addition to the $56 million in business, the 11,000 participants and 20,000 spectators the Gay Games are expected to bring to Northeast Ohio, Nobbe, the Gay Games 9 executive director, said the events will allow the area to share a spirit that allows athletes to compete openly as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people.
The first games were held in San Francisco in 1982 and then every four years in places like Sydney, Australia, Vancouver, Canada, and most recently Cologne, Germany.
So Nobbe said he is asked why Cleveland and Akron were chosen for the events that start a year from today.
“The time was right to hold these games in the heartland of America,” he said. “Where better than here to bring together the global community of friendship to experience participation, elevate consciousness and self-esteem and achieve a form of cultural and intellectual collaboration. Not to really be over dramatic about this, but to make history.”
Summit County events will include golf at Firestone Country Club, softball at Firestone Stadium, martial arts at the John S. Knight Center, track and field at the University of Akron, a marathon and half marathon on the course used for the Akron Marathon, soccer at the Copley Road fields and rodeo at the Summit County Fairgrounds.
There will be 35 events in all with Cuyahoga County events including sailing on Lake Erie, basketball, swimming and soccer.
There also will be cultural events including choral, a swimming event called Pink Flamingo, marching bands, cheerleading and an art show.
Nobbe said the events are a combination of fierce competition and friendly participation.
The rules for participation have been turned into a slogan “You don’t have to be good, you don’t have to be gay, you just have to be over 18.”
An estimated 10 percent of participants at the 2010 games in Cologne were “straight.”
“We already have cases of like the water polo events, the Northeast Ohio Water Polo Team, they are going to compete and I don’t know that there is a gay person on that team,” he said in an earlier interview.
Nobbe said area residents won’t see much difference from the gay participants than any other athletes.
“I think people are going to be kind of surprised with stereotypes that will be broken with what some folks perceive, you know, in terms of the LGBT community that they only see on television for pride events ... where people really come out and show the colors,” he said. “I would say the majority of these people are athletes and ... somebody driving by the University of Akron will not know that this happens to be an LGBT event. These are athletes.”
Nobbe, a competitive swimmer, said previous games have not had security issues, but precautions are being taken.
“We will be talking to the sheriff’s departments and the police departments and Homeland Security and all of those places to ensure that everybody is able to have a great time,” he said. “If there are people who are unhappy that these events are occurring, I’m sure they will be able to express their displeasure but at the distances that these security people set for them.”
He said Northeast Ohio competed against the Washington and Boston areas for the games and won for three reasons: this area showed enthusiasm for winning the games, the area’s sporting venues were excellent and closer together than the competing cities and organizers thought it was time to expand beyond what are considered traditional “gay destinations.”
“I think people are looking at the LGBT community in a different light and we are thrilled that these games will be in the heartland because if we are successful that will send a message. It’s one thing to hold the games in San Francisco or Sydney, it’s another thing to hold this in Northeast Ohio.”
Dave Scott can be reached at 330-996-3577 or davescott@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Scott on Twitter at Davescottofakro.