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Warm reception
for gay rowing group
Bernie Puchalski,
Standard Staff
Local Sports - Saturday, August 06,
2005 @ 01:00
There’s a new presence this week in the
vendors area of Henley Island.
Tucked among the boat
and clothing companies, photo dealers, rowing publications and
traditional rowing organizations at the 123rd Royal Canadian
Henley Regatta is a tent promoting the Los Angeles-based Gay
and Lesbian Rowing Federation.
Manning the booth in
its first-ever visit to Henley is recreational rower and Los
Angeles-based financial analyst Brian Todd, wearing casual
clothes and rainbow-striped socks.
“This regatta is so
wonderful,” he said. “I’m frustrated that I’m stuck in this
booth all week.”
Todd, who founded the organization in
2001 with fellow American Elizabeth Morgan and Australian
Geoff Lyne and is the executive director, has been pleasantly
surprised with his reception on the island.
He has
been greeted by “incredible, genuine warmth with no hostility
whatsoever.”
But not everyone is overflowing with
warmth.
Lawyer Jack Lovett, the regatta’s
grandstand announcer, feels the group doesn’t belong on the
island.
“I don’t think it’s a welcome addition. I
don’t think it’s a good example for our clean-cut athletes
rowing at Henley.”
The web-based, membership-driven
organization has 380 members in 17 countries. About 12 per
cent of the group’s members come from Canada.
And that
number is on the rise.
“Our Canadian membership is
rising very quickly and we’re pleased with that,” Todd said.
At this week’s Henley, two 16-year-old girls signed up
and Todd expects more by week’s end. The GLRF’s youngest
member is a 14-year-old girl.
“A couple of lesbian
girls pranced in delighted to see us and they couldn’t wait to
sign up,” Todd said.
The initial impetus for creating
the organization was for better representation of rowing at
the Gay Games. Rowing was added to the Gay Games in 1998, but
wasn’t a sport in 2002.
The group quickly changed its
focus to promote rowing in the gay and lesbian community for
people who have never rowed before, and, through visibility
and awareness, provide an easy integration of gay and lesbian
rowers into the rowing community. It also provides resources
to gay and lesbian rowers.
Gay rowers who come out
lose friends and feel like they’re starting all over when they
enter a boathouse, Todd said.
“We’re like a doorman.
We hold the door open to the gay and lesbian community.”
But that door isn’t always swung open in greeting.
“At the national and elite level in other countries,
it is homophobic. In Canada, I don’t yet have a good feel for
it.
“At the club level, it is more conservative than
homophobic. There’s enough of an air of conservatism that,
unless the club is proactive, the gay and lesbian rower feels
intimidated.”
The common perception of the group is
that it wants to hold separate regattas for gay and lesbian
rowers, but Todd says that’s not the case.
“Our vision
is a seamless integration of gay and lesbian rowers within the
broader rowing community. It means you can be totally out and
totally complete without fear of retribution or judgment.”
Funding for the group comes from sponsorships, web
advertising, apparel sales and paid memberships.
“We
have limited resources but we want to be at national and
international regattas,” Todd said.
This year, the
group will have a presence at the San Diego Crew Classic, the
Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and the Head of the Charles.
“Just the fact that you have visibility changes the
outlook and increases the acceptance. It’s no longer buried
under the carpet,” Todd said.
Thank
you for reading St. Catharines Standard online.
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