Approval of Games sets up next step - Gays must get OK from 2 communities

Approval of Games sets up next step - Gays must get OK from 2 communities

By Jeff Long
Tribune staff reporter Copyright by The Chicago Tribune
Published March 9, 2006

Pleased with the permission granted late Tuesday by the Crystal Lake Park District to hold Gay Games rowing competition on the city's lake this summer, organizers turned their attention to approval still needed from two municipalities.

Tracy Baim, co-vice chairwoman of the Gay Games board, said Wednesday that formal application would be made to Crystal Lake and Lakewood as soon as possible.

She also pledged that organizers would spend the next four months trying to soothe any lingering concerns about the event.

The Crystal Lake City Council is tentatively scheduled to vote April 4 on restricting wakes on the lake so as not to disturb the racers, according to City Manager Gary Mayerhofer, who began talking to Gay Games officials Wednesday.

Lakewood officials must also approve the wake restriction before the July 16 rowing event can be held. But officials there are unsure about what else they might consider or when it will be discussed.

Scheduled to last between noon and 6 p.m. that Sunday, up to six boats will row side-by-side on a course up to 1,000 meters long--covering about two-thirds the length of the lake on the south side.

The races would not interfere with boaters elsewhere, except for the requested wake restriction. And Main Beach would remain open to the public, organizers said.

City officials in Crystal Lake are waiting their turn in what has become an emotional debate over morality and community acceptance. But Mayor Aaron Shepley said Wednesday that the council vote would be about wakes, not gay politics.

"The only thing that disappoints me is the kind of attention this has drawn upon us," Shepley said.

News reports have circulated around the world about the culture clash in Crystal Lake, a city of about 38,000 some 50 miles northwest of Chicago in McHenry County.

Lakewood, on the southwest side of the lake, is a community of about 3,400.

"It does not fairly reflect what our community stands for," Shepley said of what he called the vocal minority opposed to the event.

Baim said organizers would also request the closing of a portion of Lake Shore Drive in Crystal Lake before and after the regatta to get boats into and out of the lake.

Organizers also will ask the city to waive non-residential boating fees--$15--for the international competitors.

The rowing event of the weeklong Gay Games being held in Chicago was approved by the Park District board about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday in a 3-2 vote after more than three hours of sometimes-heated debate.

Board President Jerry Sullivan, absent for last week's 2-2 tie vote that originally defeated the Gay Games' request, cast the deciding vote.

Commissioners David Phelps and Scott Breeden again voted "no," and Candy Reedy and Michael Zellmann remained in favor.

"I have been threatened," Breeden said. "I have been called names I do not appreciate. To be called a homophobe and names just because I'm trying to represent the people who elected me, I feel uncomfortable."

"I was not elected to be park commissioner to the world," Phelps said. "I was elected to represent the people of Crystal Lake."

Held in the Park District's banquet hall, which seats 250 but couldn't accommodate the crowd, the Tuesday meeting began with Sullivan emphasizing that the vote was about whether the Gay Games event fit Park District guidelines.

But much of the public comment centered on community values, standards of decency and the potential for public lewdness. About 70 people spoke.

"I'm totally against it," said Crystal Lake resident Jeff Bebe. "I don't think it's good for anybody."

Lakewood resident Julie Billimack said she plans to take her children to the beach that day to watch the racers slice through Crystal Lake's spring-fed waters.

"It will definitely enhance the quality of life for us on that day," she said.

George Stasiak of Crystal Lake said the name "Gay Games" is offensive because no one should flaunt his or her sexuality in public.

On Wednesday, Baim said the name is not about sexuality.

"There's not a need for a `Heterosexual Games' because heterosexual people are not oppressed and killed for who they are and who they love," Baim said.

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jjlong@tribune.com