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Graffiti ShowsBias on Campus

link identified as “Details of Anonymous Bias ‘V _
Incidents 2003” actually results in a list of inci- V
dents from February through April of 2002. ‘

“While grafliti might seem like no

ccording to Dorothea Brauer, the direc-
Ator of LGBTQA Services at the
University of Vermont’s Diversity
Center, last month saw a spate of homophobic
and anti-woman grafiiti on campus. The inci-
dents, she said, were being treated as serious
bias events, some of which might rise to the
level of crimes.
On September 7, 2003, two bias inci-
dents were reported to Police Services. In one
incident, a naked woman was drawn on a wall

nearby. Harris Hall, a dorm in the Redstone
campus area, also suffered a graffiti attack, with
“numerous lines of grafiiti drawn” on the doors
of women’s rooms. The drawings included male
genitalia and words such as “hot bodies” and
“balls.”

Three days later, a bias incident was
reported to Police Services involving homopho-
bic graffiti defacing a poster from Howard
Dean’s presidential primary campaign. The sign
was posted in the circular drive near the Royall

read, “The Doctor is OUT” “Homo Dean bad
for America.”

According to the report, the sign was
taken down and the matter is under investiga-
tion by the on-carnpus Police Services.

Two more incidents were reported a
week later.

Bias incidents reported on campus are
tracked by the campus police services and
reported through a link on their website
(www.uvm.edu/~police). The link leads to the

more than a prank,” Brauer wrote in an email to
the UVM lgbtqa listserve, “it can create an
atmosphere of disrespect and it can make a per-
son feel intimidated, fearful and unwelcome.
Please know that many of us at UVM take bias
incidents seriously. Staff members at LGBTQA
Services, the Women’s Center and the ALANA
Student Center are all prepared to talk to you if
you have been affected by an expression of hate
or bias. Don’t hesitate to call or stop by our
offices.” V

in Austin Hall, with “I love pussy” written

Tyler Theatre and Bailey Howe Library and

university’s Affirmative Action page, but the

Montreal 06 Gay Games VII Fundraising Begins

BY PAUL OLSEN

V ark McFadden doesn’t nor-
mally practice beach vol-
leyball on Ste. Catherine

Street in Montreal. But on Labor Day
weekend he did. That’s because

Montreal’s Gay Village hosted sports ‘

demonstrations and an ambitious
fimdraising campaign in preparation
for the city’s Gay Games VII events
in 2006.

Closed between Amherst
and Papineau streets, Ste. Catherine
Street came alive with a variety of
sports events. Lesbians played hock-
ey, gay men wrestled and played bad-
minton, and McFadden and his team
played volleyball on a sand-filled
court. For non-athletes, an outdoor

tea dance was held in front of the
Beaudry Metro Station and visitors
were encouraged to try a mechanical
bull outside of Stock Bar, a popular
male strip club.

Cosponsored by Equipe
Montreal, the Village Merchants and
Professionals Association, and the
Quebec Gay Chamber of Commerce,
contributions solicited throughout the
weekend benefited the Montreal 2006
Gay Games Organizing Committee.

Dubbed the “bronze” week-
end, the event met its fundraising
goal of $100,000 (CAD) when 500
people ‘paid $200 each to attend a
black tie gala earlier in the week.
Gay Games organizers plan to hold
“silver” and “gold” Labor Day week-
end events in 2004 and 2005 respec-

- tively.

McFadden, a member of
Montreal’s Lambda Boys volleyball
team, says the bronze weekend marks
just the beginning of the city’s plan-
ning for the 2006 Gay Games. “The
first thing that is taking place is the
setting up of steering committees for
each of the sports that will do the
preparation work,” he told OITM.
“The biggest thing is to determine the
sites and the facilities to make sure '
they are all up to expectations.”

In addition to planning,
McFadden and his teammates need to
practice and raise money. “On an

individual player level, each player

will pay the registration for the Gay
Games whether they are from
Montreal, Sydney, or from Paris,” he
said. “So everyone has to make a
financial commitment.”

/g According to Louise Roy,
the Chief Executive Officer of the
Montreal 2006 Gay Games, events
like the bronze weekend will be held

regularly to educate the public. “This

we_ekend is to prepare the
Montrealers and the [gay] Village to
work together to make the Gay
Games a very big successful event,”
she told OITM. “And it is for
fundraising.”
Roy anticipates needing

‘approximately $20 million (CAD) to

run the 2006 Gay Games in
Montreal. “We prepared three [finan-
cial] scenarios ¥ pessimistic, realistic,
and optimistic,” she said. “But we are
still optimistic. We can do a very
good Games for between $16 and
$20 million [CAD].”

On behalf of Montrealls

Gay Games VII Organizing
Committee, Louise Roy invited
OITM readers to Montreal in 2006.
“Montreal was working for the Gay
Games for eight years,” she said.

“This was our second candidacy. For .

North Americans, Montreal is going
to be a good destination for gay
tourists. The Gay Games will be a
premiere tourist‘ and sports event
coinciding with Gay Pride
[DiversCite]. It will be a very big

‘amazing party in Montreal.”

Montreal ’s Gay Games will
‘be held from July 29 to August 5,
2006 and will feature more than 30
sporting events and exhibitions V