By Dirk Smith
The
report shows a significantly mismanaged and financially irresponsible
history of the organization, led by Ivan Cano and Keith Hart. Hundreds
of thousands of dollars were spent on “marketing trips” and other
promotional fees and hundreds of thousands of dollars more were spent on
so called “consulting fees” to various people including CEO Ivan Cano
walking away with $109,000 alone. This represented half of the total
budget for the event. In contrast, it was revealed that only $60,0000
was spent on the actual sporting events. Only three of which were not
cancelled; Aquatics, Soccer and Country Western Dance.
Long story
short, of the $1.5 million dollar budget for a “sporting event” less
than 4% of that budget went toward the actual sports. There has been no
shortage of outrage from this whole debacle with vendors, athletes,
sponsors and long time supporters (including former board members of
GLISA) all speaking out against Outgames and GLISA as a result.
The
Miami-Dade Police Department in conjunction with the City of Miami have
decided not to press charges against the organizers, leaving thousands
of athletes, hotels, vendors and other sponsors without resolve and
without any kind of refund for the hundreds and thousands of dollars
they lost to Outgames. Where does that leave all of us?
Cancelled
only a few hours before it was set to begin. GLISA and World Outgames
have been a major embarrassment to the LGBTQ+ community and have done a
lot of damage to our cause.
The
past 2 years, the LGBTQ+ sports community has seen 4 events that have
been significantly mismanaged and leaving the athletes and vendors in a
tight position and at risk, not just of losing money but support and
credibility as well. From the significantly poorly organized 2015 Eurogames to the collapse of the 2016 Asia Pacific Outgames in Auckland, full cancellation of 2016 North American Outgames in St. Louis and finally the mess that was 2017 World Outgames in Miami.
All of which without refund to the thousands of dollars people spent to
take part, many athletes and longtime supporters of LGBTQ+ sports are
left wondering…
How relevant LGBTQ+ are in the future
and most importantly and is it worth the investment of time, training
and cost of participating?
Without any kind of
consequence coming from these very serious missteps and without any kind
of accountability or even “lessons learned” what is to stop these
organizations from moving forward without changing the fundamental way
they organize these events? Not all LGBTQ+ sporting events have been the
subject of such fundamental and serious collapse but even those
organizations are not immune to the potential fall out. It ultimately
comes down to the athlete, and the question of “Is it worth the
investment (time, training and cost) for me to participate?”
The
Gay Games, which is administered by the Federation of the Gay Games and
is not associated with GLISA or Outgames has their namesake event set
to take place next year in 2018. The track record of Gay Games events
has been more positive and have consistently shown to be worth the
investment of athletes to participate. However even they are not immune
to the consequence of the fallout from the Outgames and Eurogames
collapses. While they may not have any association with the events, they
are still part of the LGBTQ+ sports community and left to pick up the
pieces. Including athletes who are now questioning their involvement in
the 2018 Gay Games.
Following the 2015 Eurogames, the Eurogames
parent organization and the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation,
were left to scramble what little credibility they had left to recover
their reputations and stepped up their efforts to maintain
accountability for their brands. As a result they put a lot of pressure
on the host committee due to host the 2016 Eurogames in Helsinki to step
up their efforts and as a result the Helsinki event turned out to be a
much better. This helped to recover the dignity of Eurogames and the
EGLSF.
The damage done by GLISA and Outgames however truly has
international ramifications from the athletes who traveled halfway
around the world to participate. They’ve done more than just damage a
brand, they’ve damaged the community. What that means for future
“destination” LGBTQ+ sporting events like the 2018 Gay Games in Paris is
that Gay Games is left to pick up the pieces.
GLISA
has remained absently silent while their future Outgames bid organizers
including Winnipeg (2020) and Buenos Aires (2021) are dumping GLISA and
distancing themselves from the Outgames brand. This is the legacy of
the Outgames and the Gay and Lesbian International “Sports” Association.
One of mismanagement and fraud, as I and many others have since called
for, it is time for GLISA to respectfully dismantle.
Despite the
lack of charges being filed, many athletes had called their banks and
successfully disputed the charges of their registration fees. In
addition, many of the hotels and vendors who were not paid for their
services are also launching lawsuits against Cano, World Outgames Miami
and GLISA for unpaid fees. A potential lawsuit from the athletes as well
is in the works.
The lack of accountability for these
organizations come from a lack of real representation for the athletes.
Without an independent body that represents to interest of LGBTQ+
athletes and demands such accountability and transparency from any and
every organization. If us athletes demand a high quality, well organized
sporting event, it is up to use to unite and expect nothing less from
every organization that seeks to host such an event.
It is time
for the remaining LGBTQ+ Sports Organizations to reevaluate the
relevance of LGBTQ+ sports. Organizations and events like Federation of
the Gay Games, EGLSF, IGLA, IGLFA, NGFFL, Frontrunners, Sin City
Shootout and others all have the potential to take the lead and rebuild
to empower the LGBTQ+ sports community to keep moving forward. It will
take a significant step up in quality, organization and reassurance but
most of all actions speak louder than words. We will see if these other
organizations are worthy of our investment into their events.
Luis Alfaro is an Associate Professor at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. He is a Chicano writer/performer known for his work in poetry, theatre, short stories, performance and journalism. He is the first-ever resident playwright of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, courtesy of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant. Alfaro is also a producer/director who spent 10 years at the Mark Taper Forum as Associate Producer, Director of New Play Development and co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative.
LGBT life, youth culture, and mental health. Benoit's narrative nonfiction has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Slate, and Out. He is the author of three nonfiction books, including "America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life" and the 
