Pictured At the March 7 meeting. Photo by Amy WootenAlthough a Gay Games VII request to hold rowing competitions in Crystal Lake was approved late Tuesday night by the town's Park District Board, the meeting was a reminder that homophobia still exists.
The board voted 3-2 in favor of holding the Gay Games rowing competition July 16, following a lengthy and heated discussion from the public. The vote was a victory for Gay Games after the board rejected the motion March 2 with a 2-2 tie vote.
More than 300 people packed the second meeting, after around 100 showed up March 2. The new facility was so full, there was standing room only, and some people could not get in.
Gay Games organizers, LGBT residents and their supporters were met with hostile opposition at both meetings. The topic of rowing was discussed very little at the first meeting, because the board had already received a complete packet of details on the event. Instead, the discussion focused primarily on the support of, or opposition to, LGBT people.
On Tuesday, far more LGBT supporters came out, including Crystal Lake gay and lesbian residents and their neighbors who welcome Gay Games to the community. However, much opposition was expressed, including scathing remarks from the Illinois Family Institute's Peter LaBarbera. This time around, residents in opposition tried to focus more on concerns over giving outside groups 'special access' to the lake.
The next step will be for the Gay Games to go to the city councils of Lakewood and Crystal Lake for a vote on specific lake clearances.
'I do feel it's very sad that the gay and lesbian community of McHenry County and Crystal Lake still have to experience this,' said co-vice chairwoman of the Gay Games board of directors, Tracy Baim, publisher of Windy City Times. 'We're just sorry this had to happen this way. We want to work with them to heal.'
On March 2, the Crystal Lake Park District board had rejected a motion to bring the rowing competition to the Northwest suburban town. With one member on vacation, president Jerry Sullivan, the board voted 2-2, causing the motion to fail. Commissioners Scott Breeden and David Phelps voiced their opposition to bringing the July 16 competition to Crystal Lake, with Phelps saying Gay Games is more about politics than athletics.
Lesbian Crystal Lake resident Pat Pierce, who will be competing in the Gay Games' softball competition, urged the board to bring such an event to her hometown during the March 7 meeting.
'My dream as a kid was to always be in the Olympics,' Pierce said. 'This is my chance.'
Pierce expressed her disappointment that so much commotion and controversy was caused over a sport.
African American Crystal Lake resident and mother Emily Hope urged her community to embrace diversity, adding that she didn't want to live in a place that is intolerant.
'We need to look forward,' Hope said. 'Honestly, if we are saying gay people aren't welcome in the water, I don't know how long it will be before you say I'm not welcome in the water,' she said.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Phelps, who voted against holding Gay Games rowing in Crystal Lake in both meetings, motioned for a re-vote, which passed 4-1. Next, both Commissioner Phelps and Breeden maintained their previous 'no' vote. Phelps rejected an earlier argument that the commissioners, as elected officials, should check their moral values at the door.
Commissioners Candy Reedy and Michael Zellmann were in support of the motion at both meetings.
'I think this is a nice opportunity to further showcase the lake,' Reedy said March 2.
'If you don't like it, don't go,' Reedy stated Tuesday night.
Zellmann had wanted to hear from more athletes and residents March 2, and said he was pleased that Gay Games organizers heeded his request at the second meeting.
Jerry Sullivan voted in favor, so the motion passed 3-2 after four hours of debate, and after most of the media had already left.
Sullivan said that Crystal Lake is 'well suited' for, and used to holding, large regattas.
Breeden voted against Gay Games, citing concerns over lake usage. 'I'm just not sure we want to have another activity,' he said.
The second meeting was more balanced, with more supporters from the area showing up. There was also more focus on the rowing, with a solid presentation of the facts at the start of the meeting by the Crystal Lake Rowing Club, which applied for the permit application in conjunction with the Gay Games organizers.
But the evening was still heated, with supporters from PFLAG, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, the ACLU of Illinois, and residents speaking passionately about the need to be a welcoming community. Some gays and lesbians were coming out for the first time in public by speaking out, with many media cameras running.
Lawyers argued that this was a civil-rights issue, while opponents said there was a higher judge, from 'above'.
At both meetings, issues of lewd behavior and conduct, as well as health issues related to HIV, were presented, usually to groans from the pro-gay side of the room. At the March 7 meeting, one man tried to insert the pedophilia argument as reason to oppose a Gay Games.
_____
'I raised my children here and I raised them to be open minded and embrace diversity,' 25-year Crystal Lake resident Holly Emrich told Windy City Times as she greeted people outside with her pro-gay signs.
Many young people came out to support Gay Games March 7, such as Crystal Lake's Samantha Schaefer. 'We live in a community where these types of things are only a discussion because of sexuality,' she told Windy City Times. 'It should be about rowing.'
A main point of contention Tuesday night, as the hour neared midnight, was whether the re-vote itself was legal. Several people opposed to the rowing regatta disagreed with the Park District attorney Scott Puma, who said that they had a right to call a special meeting for the re-vote.
The reason for the re-vote was not just that Sullivan was out of town. There was also concern that the original vote, which may or may not have been based on sexual orientation discrimination, violated the state's Human Rights Act. The revised Act, which went in effect Jan. 1 of this year, covers sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in several areas, including public accommodations. Lambda attorney Jim Madigan and others stated that they believe a 'no' vote based on sexual orientation would violate state law as well at the U.S Constitution.
What was clear was that the Crystal Lake community has some healing ahead if the Gay Games rowing regatta is to take place there. The venue was selected by mainstream rowers who say it is the best location within 100 miles. Backup venues would include those in the City of Chicago or neighboring suburbs.
Nancy Harris, sports director of Gay Games VII, presented the rowing portion of the discussion along with Walt Gary of the Crystal Lake Rowing Club.
____
'Let's make it very clear tonight,' Baim said at the March 2 meeting. 'This is about gay people.'
'That homophobia starts somewhere,' she continued. 'It is subtle and pervasive. When a politician attacks gay people for daring to want to marry, daring to want to row a boat, that has a trickle down impact. It allows more violent people to justify their hatred, to take the next step towards eliminating us.'
Rev. Dan Larson of nearby Woodstock's Congregational Unitarian Church came to speak in support of Gay Games at both meetings. 'Everybody has a right to row their boat,' Larson said March 2.
Many locals reminded those at the meeting that LGBT people live in Crystal Lake and surrounding areas.
'We are part of your community,' said Palatine resident Deb Hale, who uses the Crystal Lake Park District's facilities. 'We work with you. We worship with you. We play with you on your golf courses and lakes.'
Others, such as a local gay father of four, spoke out to remind residents that there are many LGBT individuals active in the community.
'We are already here,' said Union resident and lesbian, Loretta Cattani.
Despite the turnout of many LGBT people and their supporters, residents against holding the regatta were met with much applause.
Many community members opposed the event because they felt Gay Games focused too much on sexual orientation.
Crystal Lake resident Joel Anderson, speaking on behalf of a fellowship of local pastors March 2, called Gay Games a 'vehicle to demonstrate their cause,' and a celebratory event of a particular agenda. 'You have a right to row your own boat, but not in the public forum,' he said.
Some residents expressed health concerns. Fellow resident Sunita Stone said she moved to Crystal Lake because it is a 'wholesome' community, and worried about the allowance of HIV-positive athletes from abroad for the week-long event. Stone felt that holding a Gay Games event in Crystal Lake would bring HIV/AIDS—a disease she called 'the consequence of a homosexual lifestyle'—to the community through 'risky behavior.' Because of the HIV comments March 2, the Illinois Department of Public Health sent a doctor to address any concerns that might come up at the March 7 meeting.
Others, such as Crystal Lake's Joe Edwards, felt that a Gay Games event would bring 'lewd behavior' to the community. 'Those that went to Sydney [ Gay Games ] engaged in behavior not appropriate or even legal for this community,' he said.
Edwards added that LGBT people have the community's respect, but felt that asking to have a Gay Games competition in Crystal Lake was a request for 'special access.'
'For those in the gay community, you already have our respect, but you don't have to clamor for it,' Edwards said.
Two commissioners made it clear that an LGBT event was unwelcome in Crystal Lake.
'When I have a group coming to the board whose organization is based on sexual preference, I have a real problem with that,' Phelps said March 2. He feels that Gay Games is a 'vehicle for the promotion of an agenda.'
'If you want equal treatment and equal access, then stop making your sexuality relevant,' Phelps continued.
Commissioner Breeden expressed a similar opinion, saying that Gay Games was not asking to hold an athletic event, but 'pushing a social agenda.' He added his 'frustration' of being labeled a 'bigot' if the event was not approved.
When Reedy asked what the difference is between the Special Olympics and Gay Games, Phelps called sexual orientation a 'preference.'
Though Breeden and Phelps said that their decision would not be based on sexuality, many Gay Games supporters at the March 2 meeting felt that is exactly what occurred.
'You heard what they said,' said PFLAG member Tony Weaver of McHenry. 'I'm extremely disappointed.
'What's the difference this time?' asked her husband, Tom Weaver. 'The difference this time is sexuality.'
According to Gay Games' organizers, the one-day regatta would draw about 100 rowers and an equal number of fans. Public access to the beaches would not be restricted.
The board has allowed usage of its lakes in the past, including the annual Cardboard Cup Regatta, which draws thousands of out-of-towners. The board also recently approved an April junior regatta at least three times the size of the planned Gay Games event.
Gay Games VII will take place in Chicago and nearby suburbs July 15-22. Rowing is one of 32 competitions.
