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Final Four Gives Lesbians Forum To Celebrate Women
Tribune photo by Jason Behnken
Pamela Palumbo, left, owner of Twirl Girl Promotions, Lynn Hallmark, center, owner of East Coast Sport & Social, and Tiffany Ferrecchia, marketing for Twirl Girl Promotions, talk outside The Rare Olive on Friday night in Ybor City during the FanAtic Four Party. The three were welcoming patrons to the event.
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Published: April 5, 2008
Updated: 04/05/2008 01:02 pm
TAMPA - For Kelly Costa, the NCAA Women's Final Four Tournament in Tampa is about parties and socializing.
"I don't care about sports," said Costa, a marketing representative for outpatient radiology services who lives in St. Petersburg. "I can't wait to check out all the parties and the great lesbian scene."
The Final Four games Sunday and Tuesday will showcase the nation's best women's college basketball matchups. The tournament also will usher in what is widely thought to be the largest lesbian gathering in the history of the Tampa Bay area. Other than the Dinah Shore golf weekend in Palm Springs, Calif., the women's tournament is seen as the next biggest lesbian gathering in the nation.
The tournament will bring thousands of women to the Bay area, with events and parties planned from Ybor City to Gulfport.
For many lesbians traveling here for the games, the event is an annual pilgrimage - regardless of the final teams - that is as much about camaraderie and unity as it is about cheering for the nation's finest college athletes.
Hosting the women's Final Four stirs mixed feelings among those in the local lesbian community.
Some would rather de-emphasize the tournament's historically strong ties to the lesbian community. Others wrestle with whether Tampa is worthy of hosting the event, and reaping the financial windfall, after the Hillsborough County Commission voted in 2005 to ban the acknowledgement of gay pride events.
"We are trying to rebuild Tampa's reputation," said Lynn Hallmark, who runs a local social and sports club for lesbians and who helped organize the FanAtic Four party Friday night at the Rare Olive bar in Ybor City. "We don't want to be seen as a backwater, homophobic, hillbilly little town."
Fans And Supporters
There are myriad reasons why the tournament became a big draw for lesbians. Some players and coaches are gay, and several people said they value the athleticism and emphasis on team play.
Others said the tournament is a rare opportunity to bring together lesbians from diverse backgrounds, from small towns to big cities.
They said the NCAA has supported lesbian athletes, so the gay community has embraced the teams and the tournament.
Many lesbians support women's college athletics, said Mariruth Kennedy, who organizes Fun Women At Play, which hosts local events for lesbians and is promoting Final Four parties.
Several women in the lesbian community said they understand that some people might be unnerved by the idea of an event they jokingly refer to as the lesbian Super Bowl.
Costa addresses it more playfully.
Some people "are like, 'Oh my God, keep the children inside, the lesbians are coming,'" she said. "But it's not like that."
NCAA officials want to keep the tournament focused on athletics.
The NCAA doesn't market the women's games directly to the gay community, though officials said they support diversity in all college sports.
"From our perspective, this weekend is about basketball, not about social issues," said Chuck Wynne, an NCAA spokesman in Tampa for the tournament. "The arena will be sold out with a diverse crowd, most of whom are there because they love the game or follow a certain team."
After a version of this story appeared Friday on TBO.com, the NCAA released a statement that said: "To say any NCAA championship appeals to a certain percentage of a particular segment of the population, especially without any scientific backing, is without merit. The truth is each tournament appeals to a core group of fans but that core is as diverse as the American population itself."
Some local businesses have embraced lesbians in town for the tournament. The NCAA estimates last year's tournament in Cleveland generated at least $11 million for the city.
Restaurants and bars among Ybor City's burgeoning GaYbor Coalition District are hosting events and parties much of the week, some featuring all-girl bands, special dinners and free admission for women from out of town.
Club Czar is hosting an event called Bounce tonight, touted as the largest women's party in the Tampa Bay area. California-based Wolfe Video, a distributor of feature-length gay and lesbian movies, is co-hosting a party Monday at Club Underground.
The event features an appearance by cast members of the Showtime network's "The L Word."
Wolfe Video has hosted major parties at women's Final Four tournaments for 12 years.
Hoping Event Benefits Community
The events and parties surrounding the basketball tournament create a sense of community for gay and straight women, said Maria Lynn, president of Wolfe. The parties are a great way for women uncertain or secretive about their sexuality to mix with women who are out of the closet, she said.
"It's a vacation for a lot of people," said Kennedy, from Fun Women At Play. "They know it's a great opportunity for everyone to get together and have a good time."
Pamela Palumbo, founder of Twirl Girl, which organizes and promotes lesbian events in the Tampa Bay area, said promoters are trying to create a fun weekend that highlights women and their accomplishments.
"It's a celebration," she said.
Robin Krentcil of Orlando couldn't resist e-mail from groups like Twirl Girl that invited her to various Final Four parties and events.
She plans to drive to Tampa after work Saturday to participate in the festivities.
"I love the energy of being in a comfortable place where I can watch women, and hang out with women," said Krentcil, who owns DejÀ vu Vintage Clothing in Orlando. "There's a very safe, communal feeling being at these kinds of events. We are all coming together for a common cause."
The Rev. Phyllis Hunt doesn't plan to attend any of the games, but she knows of several women in town for the festivities who will attend her church, Metropolitan Community Church in Seminole Heights.
She is still smarting from the resolution Hillsborough County Commissioners adopted in 2005. She hopes the tournament puts the community in a better place.
"We need to get to a place where we value humanity as a whole, and not their labels," Hunt said. "I long for the day we talk about basketball, and not sexual orientation."
Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668 or bhelgeson@tampatrib.com.
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