Chris Beer left the Toughman Contest on Jan. 11 at The Palace of Auburn Hills unimpressed.
In the middle of the contest, which put current and former MSU and University of Michigan students in a boxing match, promoters put on a “homosexual match,” pitting two “homosexual” men in a mock bout. The fight ended after a fury of slaps, with a fighter clad in a green dress attempting sexual intercourse on his fallen opponent.
“They had a halfway decent show going, and then they started that up,” said Beer, an art education freshman. “Half of the crowd got up and left.
“It was ridiculous. They did such a horrible job. I think Toughman should be more embarrassed about it.”
Members of MSU’s Alliance of Lesbian-Bi-Gay-Transgendered Straight Ally students were unimpressed, too.
Several LBGT students considered asking for a refund of the $21 semester residence halls tax after discovering Residence Halls Association’s special events program sponsored a trip for more than 25 students to see the contest. The tickets came in an $800 package - including Friday’s Detroit Pistons game - and a bus to transport students to the events.
The deadline to apply for a tax refund was Feb. 1.
“We thought we were being slighted,” said Erin Reichenbach, an alliance representative. “We thought RHA had a responsibility to let us know about it.
“People would have been really angry if RHA had said, ‘We’re not going to do anything about this issue.’ A lot of people wouldn’t feel comfortable with paying their tax knowing money is going to things they definitely didn’t support.”
In response, RHA is drafting two letters addressing the issue. The alliance will receive a letter apologizing for sponsoring the event and for not bringing the issue to RHA’s meeting.
Jeff Donofrio, RHA’s director of public relations, said the other letter will go to AdoreAble Promotions Inc. - the company that promoted the contest - to inform the company that RHA is withdrawing future support.
“We paid to send people to this event obviously without knowing this was part of the show,” Donofrio said. “The fact that we spent money on this is what we would be apologizing for.”
Officials from AdoreAble Promotions declined to comment.
At its Wednesday meeting, RHA allocated the alliance $3,500 to sponsor the Midwest Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay and Transgendered and Ally College Conference to be held at MSU in March.
“We have taken extensive steps to make sure LBGTA feels accepted and part of RHA,” Donofrio said.
Some RHA representatives say those steps don’t include an apology following the contest, though.
RHA Case Hall Rep. Adam Raezler said he agrees with sending a letter to the promotions company, but not an apology to the alliance. He said the possibility of losing tax money came as a threat to RHA.
“The apology is a lie,” he said. “The apology makes it look like it’s our fault. There is no way we would known this would happen.
“It opens the door for many other organizations being mad at us for other things we have done. We can’t please everybody.”
Keith Jones, RHA special events director, said he was unaware of the mock bout.
“We will not support a company that displays racism and homophobia,” he said. “We wish we didn’t go, but we did and it was a learning experience.”
Reichenbach said the situation is better since last week’s meeting.
“After the fantastic discussion we had and how agreeable RHA special events was, the members of the LBGT community were satisfied by the way things went down,” she said. “Everyone is pleased with RHA’s reaction.”
Casey McNenly can be reached at mcnenlyc@msu.edu.
