D.C. 'Fired Up' for Gay Games
Public rally held to show support for hosting of international sports event
D.C. is officially ”fired up” in hopes of winning a bid to host the 2014 Gay Games in the District. Vince Micone, President of the Metropolitan Washington Gaymes Inc., addressed a crowd of about 300 people who came out at a little after 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21, to the Kennedy Recreation Center in Northwest.
D.C. is up against three other cities — Boston, Cleveland and Miami — competing to host the Gay Games, which are held every four years. The 2010 Games will be in Cologne, Germany. The last Games in the United States were 2006 in Chicago.
The Metropolitan Washington Gaymes Inc. is a non-profit organization set up specifically for Washington’s Gay Games bid, and the rally was one of the first components of the bid.
Brent Minor, chair of the 2014 Washington DC Gay Games Bid Committee and president of Team DC, said the bid is due to the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) on March 15.
”It is going to blow the roof off,” Minor said, adding that an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people will come to Washington if it wins.
If D.C. makes the cut that includes the final three cities, an FGG inspector is expected to visit the city this summer, followed by FGG’s voting day on September 29.
City Council Members David Catania (I-At large), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), attended the rally, and read from a council resolution drafted in support of hosting the 2014 Gay Games.
”The Council of the District of Columbia enthusiastically supports the efforts of the Metropolitan Washington Gaymes Inc.,” Catania read, ”and it’s bid for the Gay Games, and looks forward to welcoming participants from around the world to the District of Columbia, for the 2014 Freedom Games, and declares February 21st, 2009, as the 2014 Support Recognition Day in the District of Columbia.”
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