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After the Games
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Visitors to the Summer Olympics enjoyed the gay and lesbian
center but lack of corporate support has left organizers in debt
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,
V
by Richard Shumate
mid the graffiti scrawls—in English,
in Russian, even in Arabic—on the
walls of Atlanta’s gay and lesbian
Olympic visitors center was this ex
pression of thanks: “Austria loves
A
y’all.”
“And by the way,” another hand added beneath,
“we have no kangaroos.”
During the 1996 Olympics, an average of 250
to 300 visitors a day, about 5,000 in all, came
through the doors of the gay and lesbian visitors
center set up in Atlanta specifically for the Games.
As part of their experience, they were invited to
take pen in hand and leave a message on the wall for
the rest of the world.
“Could someone please start one of these in
Indiana?” “We found the way from San Jose all the
way to thi s center, and
we’re glad we did.”
“People have
been moved and mo
tivated and surprised
that this is here,” says
Julie Rhoad, who put
together the center in
a vacant theater just
north of the Olympic
center. “What we’ve
heard from them was
that it was exciting
for them to have a
point of contact.”
During the Open
ing Ceremony, visi
tors watching on tele-
vision cheered as
Greg Louganis was
honored in Olympic Stadium for his achievements.
They snapped up a triangular pin with a rainbow
flag that some crafty designer managed to get
through official Olympic channels to sell as offi
cial Olympic merchandise. For one excited young
woman who met with center volunteer Aida Rentas,
her visit became her coming out experience.
“I wish something like this had existed to be my
coming out experience,” says Rentas.
Put together by a handful of mostly volunteers
in a matter of months and promoted via a World
Wide Web site, the center appeared to be on its way
to a controversial debut when organizers found out
that Fred Phelps, the militantly anti-gay Kansas
pastor best known for picketing the funerals of
AIDS patients, planned to protest at the center on
the afternoon before the Opening Ceremony.
Security officials were concerned enough about
Phelps that they alerted tenants in a high-rise office
building across the street that there was a protest
scheduled that could turn violent. Phelps, however,
was a no show.
Those who did come up the steps, painted in
rainbow colors, found a cafe, a concierge service
providing information about the location of gay
and gay-friendly businesses, and several exhibits,
including “Shared Heart,” a moving photographic
0
exhibit featuring the stories of gay and lesbian
teens.
Atlanta’s gay history—and how far gay men
and lesbians in the South have come— was also on
display in a giant time line, from a photo of the
city’s first drag show in 1962 to a 1968 newspaper
article entitled “Deviates Gain Tolerance” to mostly
sympathetic coverage of the effort over the last
three years to move Olympic events out of Cobb
County because of its anti-gay resolution.
Local gay organizations were also allowed to
use the center to host fund-raising efforts during
the Games. The Metropolitan Atlanta Foundation’s
gay and lesbian funding initiative raised $ 10,000 in
a single event.
“A number of groups are benefiting from our
being here, and that was one cf our goals,” says
Rhoad. “We’ve also
gotten people from
around the world into
our community.”
But the center it
self has left behind
a trail of financial
problem s. W ith
only about six
months to solicit
corporate funds,
few gifts were ob
tained. And the
world premiere of a
musical comedy, In
Stitches— the box
office from which
was supposed to
subsidize the center,
which charged no
admission—drew sparse crowds.
However, the gay and lesbian visitors center
wasn’t alone in that regard. A host of cultural
events held in the city during the Olympics drew
smaller-than-expected crowds. Even Jessye
Norman sang to empty seats.
“If she had trouble bringing people in, I guess
I don’t feel quite so bad,” says Rhoad. “Nobody
bought tickets to anything this summer except the
Olympics.”
The budget for the center, which will remain
open through Labor Day, is $500,000, a majority of
which came from Rhoad and her special events
company, Candler Creative. Some skeptics in At
lanta were wary of the center, thinking Rhoad was
trying to use the Olympics and the community for
personal financial gain.
“I think now we’ve proven that I wasn’t doing
it to get rich,” says Rhoad, who says she has poured
her life’s savings into the venture.
“It was probably not the best business decision.
But I still feel that it was not a bad emotional
decision,” she says. “I think I would do it all over
again.”
To contribute to the Olympic gay and lesbian
visitors center, contact Candler Creative, 460 Can
dler St., Atlanta, GA 30307 or call (404) 681 -5354.
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