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By
Cyd Zeigler
Jr.
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The signs are everywhere: From the moment
I stepped off the plane at beautiful Trudeau
airport, I realized this city had completely
embraced the Outgames. There were signs
everywhere - rainbow-painted columns, floor
coverings, signs, posters, Outgames volunteers -
that the Outgames were happening in Montreal.
And it hasn't stopped there. The front page of
newspapers, the news reports on the radio and
television - the media here is paying close
attention.
The St. Catherine portion of the gay village has
become a huge block party with the streets
closed off to cars. In the metro, on the
streets, there are signs and posters. Video
monitors welcome Outgames participants.
Business-owners and managers ask if we're here
for the Outgames. At first look, this city seems
to have completely embraced this event.
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Half full: I had heard that organizers
were having a tough time filling Olympic Stadium
for the Opening Ceremonies. My best guess was
that the stadium was a little over half full.
However, unlike the past couple Gay Games, the
athletes did not take the stands. So, with a
capacity of about 43,000, I'd guess there were
about 22,000 in the stands with another 10,000
athletes on the field.
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It's electric: From the moment we walked
into the stadium with that athletes, for about
the next 20 minutes, it was the most electric
feeling I've experienced with any event like
this. I think part of it was that it was in a
closed-dome stadium. With the lights and the
music and the whole crowd on its feet, the
energy level was incredibly high.
I also think that feeling came from having so
many international athletes. The excitement in
the stadium was just so high. While I'll limit
my comparisons to past Gay Games this week, this
one is already sticking out. In Chicago, the
energy of the athletes at the opening ceremony
just felt flat. In these Outgames opening
ceremonies Saturday night, everyone was dancing
and clapping. It was electric.
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Booing support. The saddest part of the
opening ceremonies had to be the booing of
conservative Public Works Minister Michael
Fortier who came to support the Games. When he
came out on stage, the crowd in the stands booed
loudly and created a thunder by stomping their
feet.
When Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay asked for
the boos to stop, the crowd quieted for a moment
than started booing again loudly. Many attendees
around me shook their heads at the booing.
People had complained that Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, a conservative, would not come
to the games. Now, here they were booing a
conservative who DID come to support they event
(and, I did get from the French speaker that he
does support gay marriage). I'd think the crowd
would warmly receive anyone who came to support
them. It's no wonder gay people find little
support among the conservatives they boo.
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Enough of
the speeches! I would have thought that
Montreal might avoid speeches in the opening
ceremonies at all cost after the hell Chicago
took for theirs. But, Outgames organizers had
about 25 minutes of speeches right after the
athletes entered the stadium. Martina
Navratilova, Mark Tewksbury, GLISA and Outgames
organizers, and a couple politicians spoke.
While 25 minutes of speaking was better than the
90+ minutes of speaking in Chicago, it still
could have been either shortened or speeches
should have been interspersed throughout,
instead of programmed as a block.
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And the
award goes to... I got a great chuckle when
Stephen Nick of Team Seattle came up to me after
remembering me from Sydney. He was a part of the
team that I dubbed the hottest team at Sydney's
opening ceremonies. Stephen and his friends are
certainly contenders for this year's "hottest
team" award. But ...
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Hottest
team: Sorry Stephen. I'm going to give Team
Seattle the silver medal this year. Team
Montreal takes the gold. Not only were the
athletes with Team Montreal hot, but the
volunteers, mostly from the Montreal area, were
stunning. Though, we'll see how Stephen fills
out his Speedo in diving on Wednesday. I may
have to change my mind.
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Best
props: The Belgian delegation's umbrellas.
Inside the stadium, they were moving in unison -
pretty impressive.
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Best drag:
The four flight attendants from Team Finland (see
pic).
These girls can inhale some hot dogs!
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Best
entry: The drag queen in the plastic bubble.
I haven't seen so many men chase after a guy in
a dress since Barry Bond's Paula Abdul
impression at spring training.
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Biggest
attraction: And that is definitely in more
ways than one. The two bodybuilders from London
in blue and orange Speedos -- Chris Geary and
his boyfriend Erick De Chavez. Geary has a
popular website. When I got them up on a
ledge
posing, I think people actually forgot for
15 seconds that there was a ceremony going on
inside the stadium.
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Best
spirit: It's hard to beat the Dutch. Team
Nederlandes, in orange and blue with crazy hats
and a bunch of smiles, were incredibly friendly
and warm and really livened the place up.
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A breeze:
The registration process was quite simple. While
some of the volunteers weren't particularly
helpful, if you just signed up online when you
should have, you were in and out in no more than
15 minutes at the busiest time of day.
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It's a
small world: Just some of the countries
whose residents have come to Montreal for the
Outgames: Lebanon, Israel, Pakistan, Cuba,
Australia, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Spain,
Cyprus, Finland, Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, Japan,
Rwanda, Hungary, Luxembourg, United Arab
Emirates, India, Niger, Georgia, Guatemala,
Chad, and Chile.
The American
contingent has been completely dwarfed by the
rest of the world. Whereas about 80% of Chicago
was from the United States, I would guess that
only 20% are from the United States here in
Montreal.
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Sunday's
plan: I'll be at tennis in the morning, with
plans to hit at least soccer, softball and
volleyball. |
Opening cermonies
(38 photos)
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