Thu 11 Sep 2014 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
Mr Gay Australia, Christopher Glebatsas Mr Gay New Zealand wasn't the only contestant who rapidly became disillusioned with the recent Mr Gay World 2014 contest and left before the event was over. When he was approached to represent Australia in the Mr Gay World event, Chris Glebatsas of Melbourne says he was told by the organisers that the event was looking for “a professional representative who would be able to elevate the Mr Gay World title beyond that of a beauty pageant, into [something] that young professional gay men would aspire to be a part of.” “This was the reason the competition struck a chord with me,” he says, “as I was once one of those young gay men who grew up without a strong gay role model that didn't fit the traditional gay stereotype.” Glebatsas says that as a member of the Australian gay community “with a large number of gay men that follow me through our Lqd social media channels, I saw this as an opportunity to make an even greater impact on helping fight for equality, and at the same time show you can be a professional gay man in a loving relationship with a daughter.” Immediately on his arrival in Italy for the contest he was disturbed by what he found. “Whilst I am not a high maintenance guy the first warning sign was definitely the accommodation.” The contestants, he says, were housed in a hostel cum camping village. “If I had been backpacking my way through Europe that would have been fine. But for a competition of this caliber the accommodation wasn't appropriate.” Worse, he says, “We were expected to share our rooms/trailers with other delegates and we had to buy our own toilet paper - need I say more!” “On the first night, the majority of the delegates except for Troy, Mr Gay NZ, and I attended a toga party.” It was, he recalls, “like a reality show where they plied you with alcohol just to see what happened next.” Glebatsas says he made it clear coming into the event that his travelling companion was his partner of five years, Anthony, and that their relationship is an integral part of his life. “And therefore I chose not to participate in activities we felt both didn't recognise or respect our relationship.” This, he says, did not go down well with the organisers. “[They] made it clear that my partner was not welcome to be involved in any events and there was a clear desire for him to keep his distance from the organisation as much as possible.” THINGS GET SLEAZY More troubling for Glebatsas was that the organisers “would prefer me to become much 'closer' to the other delegates.” He believes that there was a double standard regarding the presence of partners compared to other visitors. “When Anthony brought clean clothes to my room I was reprimanded by one of the organizing committee for my partner coming to my room. And yet what went on in the rooms amongst the other delegates didn't raise any eyebrows!” “Most people would have seen my photos and I love nothing more than to use my body as an illustration of what it is to look your best, I am very proud of this... but when the organisers got the delegates into their speedos and into the pool, serious groping was encouraged.” Glebatsas says he is not a prude, “but this was not cool.” He chose to participate in the gropy pool party only “as little as I could without becoming completely ostracised.” He says the level of sexual tension that was being promoted through the activities “clearly indicated the direction in which the organisers wanted the event to go and when we met the organisers they were incredibly creepy.” Although the organisers of the event have denied it, Glebatsas says there were two separate instances people “involved within the organisation” posting “bullying comments on social media to highlight that my partner should not be involved or welcome at the event.” He objected and tried to have the matter sorted, but “when I asked to have these addressed I was again shut down, and felt bullied to accept this as the status quo.” This is not what Glebatsas understood to be the ethos of the contest. “Promoting a healthy and loving long-term gay relationship is something the organization should be embracing, not trying to undermine, and under no circumstances should bullying be acceptable.” NO SIGN OF GAY ISSUES The high-minded ideals Glebatsas had been led to expect were an illusion. “Before arriving in Rome, I imagined the delegates would spend their days in meetings and workshops discussing gay rights issues, important political and social issues and how we could, as a group, champion equality.” It's worth noting that as recently as last week the organisers were pointedly trying to insist that GayNZ.com news coverage of the controversy refer to the contestants by the more conference-related term 'delegates.' “Instead, says Glebatsas, “we were involved in Tiramisu-making competitions, singing and dancing rehearsals and various gay parties including the pool party. Now we love a party as much as the next guy but, really, with the representation of cultures from around the globe so much more could have been achieved - which meant all the lines about gay rights from the organisers rang hollow.” POOR ORGANISATION Both Mr Gay New Zealand and his fellow entrant from Oz have cited the poor organisation of the event as a significant reason for pulling out of Mr Gay World. “The pre-organized schedule changed daily and every event was poorly organised and executed,” says Glebatsas. By day five “I had become completely disillusioned by the lack of professionalism of the organization.” The final straw, he says, occurred when he realised that Mr Gay New Zealand had left “due to the event not fitting with his ideals and moral beliefs and the total unprofessionalism and lack of any sense of organisation.” With Williams gone “the key organizer then started to spread false rumours of why he had left, including getting drunk on the beach photo-shoot,” Glebatsas alleges. Williams has strongly denied he was drunk and Glebatsas concurs. “I know this wasn't the case, as I had spent most of the day with him and he wasn't drunk. In fact he drank much less than a number of the other delegates. They simply made that up to smear him.” Glebatsas says he and his partner also got to know the then-current Mr Gay World 2013, New Zealander Chris Olwage, “quite well... and we saw the frustrations and issues he faced with the organization as well as how the organisation treated him which also started to raise alarm bells for us.” GayNZ.com has attempted to contact Olwage for comment, so far without success. “It became very clear to me that this was not a group of people or an organisation that I would be prepared to work with or that I had any hope of achieving real outcomes with, so I decided to withdraw from the competition in the hope of sending a clear message to the organisation that it needed to change. “For the committee to then issue a statement saying I left due to 'not getting fresh towels' clearly shows that, like they did with Mr Gay NZ's pulling out, they are forced into peddling fiction because the facts aren't there.” Mr Gay World “is a broken organization,” Chris Glebatsas says, “one that does not and should not be seen to represent our amazing communities that I am so proud to be a part of.” Jay Bennie - 11th September 2014