Gay Games director still comes home to Alaska

Although Darl Schaaff is forming Team Alaska for the 2010 Gay Games, Cleveland.com said that Schaaff - a martial arts competitor, Alaska Statehood event planner, and Federation of Gay Games board member - is moving to the midwest next year. It's partly true:

Cleveland didn't just win the 2014 Gay Games when it went all out to woo organizers this summer. It won the heart of the site selection committee's top judge, too.

Darl Schaaff, who has lived in Alaska for more than three decades, bought a condo in Ohio City after he was "blown away" by Cleveland.

"Cleveland was, and I say this lovingly, this joke because we had Washington, D.C. bidding and we had Boston bidding," said Schaaff. "And along came Cleveland, the little engine that could."

Schaaff will spend much of this year in Germany, where this year's games are. And he knows he'll get the same question he always gets when he mentions the next venue: "Where is Cleveland?" He answers: "The heartland of America."

And now he can say it's home, too.

"I came to Cleveland, found the people to be charming and the city lovely," he said.

So he bought a still-under-construction condo in the old YMCA on Franklin Blvd., where his downstairs is the old basketball court, wood floor and all.

"I'm a Clevelander," he declared proudly.

Schaaff spends time working in each host city and usually rents an apartment. He's currently looking for a rental in Cologne for this summer's Games. As for the Cleveland condo:

"I bought the place because I will be there so much in the next 5 years," Schaaff wrote when I asked if he was moving. "Planning to use it for FGG Headquarters and hang out spot."

The Federation of Gay Games announced Cleveland as the 2014 host last October, citing the city's world-class athletic facilities, hotels and public transportation. From TIME:

"We've never really gone to the heartland," says Schaaff, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. "Here was an opportunity to boldly go to a place that is perhaps not recognizable throughout the world as a gay center, but where real change is starting to happen."

Cleveland instituted a registry for domestic partners in May. The Ohio house of representatives passed a bill on Sept. 15 that would make it illegal to discriminate against gay people in housing and in the workplace. The same day, Cleveland's city council passed a law guaranteeing the Gay Games $2 million in cash and in-kind contributions. "The city of Cleveland is prepared to roll out the welcome mat to the LGBT athletes, their families and spectators from around the world," Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson said in a press release.

They wouldn't get that kind of welcome in Anchorage. Besides, we don't have world class public transportation.

Schaaf will share his knowledge of the Gay Games, the largest GLBT sport and culture event in the world, on March 17 at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Anchorage at 7 p.m. Athletes and others interested in the Games and Team Alaska are encouraged to attend.

"Looking forward to the GLCCA meeting as I love telling about the Gay Games," he wrote. "I am currently working to raise money to provide scholarships for a few people to go from Alaska."

Athletes outside the Anchorage area can contact Schaaff through Art Services North.