C: Mika Kozma (R), of Poland, who is married to a woman, and Tom Slater of the U.S. compete in the Ballroom Dancing event during Gay Games VII in Chicago July 20, 2006. If gays want to play football or darts, Chicago is the place to be. The 2006 Chicago Gay Games, which opened on July 15, lasts a week. The pairs figure skating and ballroom dance, both staged last Wednesday, are unmistakably, incontrovertibly gay. They are also among the most popular events for spectators. The events provide one of the precious few venues for same-sex couples to participate in activities like figure skating and ballroom dancing without enduring jeers or sideways glances. "That they can for once hold hands with a man here is uplifting," said Stina Rogal, who is co-organizing the Gay Games figure skating competition. "It makes all the years they spent working as hard as anyone else pay off." At the downtown Hilton Chicago, women twirled women while wearing matching sequined dresses or with one dressed conservatively as the leader and the follower decked out in a hot pink two-piece outfit. Men spun across the floor with other men, often dressed in identical black tuxedos. One follower wore a flowing pink scarf that trailed behind him on the dance floor. "If two men dance Latin together, it's very powerful," said Ursula Hegglin, 40, of Switzerland. "Their elegance across the floor is marvelous." And two women can be a more graceful pairing. Hegglin and Loredana Conte, 45, who are both dance partners and a romantic couple, wore matching one-piece jumpsuits with Hegglin in pink and Conte in black. "She leads and I follow," Hegglin said. "It's great to be here with these people and do what we feel like doing." Another team, Latin dance veterans from New York, said dancing as a same-sex couple offers more options than in traditional ballroom dancing. "You can show so many more things and be so much more versatile with your dance," said Jacob Jason, 26, who danced with Willem Devries, also 26. "It's much more artistic." But there can be difficulties as well. Men need to adjust to dancing with a partner who has equally big hands. And the difficulty for women? Well, four breasts take up more room than two in close dance positions, noted Tara Walsh of northern California.    (Agencies)

如果同性恋们想踢足球或投标枪，芝加哥是最理想的去处。为期一周的2006年芝加哥同性恋运动会于7月15日开幕。毫无疑问，于上周三举行的双人花样滑冰和交际舞大赛的参赛者们也是同性恋人。同时，这两项比赛也最受观众们欢迎。 运动会专门从为数不多的几所高档场馆中选出一所，作为花样滑冰和交际舞此类比赛的场地，以防这些同性伴侣们受到嘲笑或遭白眼。 同性恋运动会花样滑冰大赛的协办者史蒂娜·罗格说：“他们能够破例在这里与男伴牵手比赛，真是令人激动。他们多年来像别人一样辛勤努力，如今终于得到了回报。” 在市区的希尔顿芝加哥酒店里，女人们在赛场上旋转起舞，她们或者穿着彼此搭配的亮片长裙，或是领舞者穿得保守点，伴舞者穿着热辣的粉红两件套。 男人们也在舞池中翩翩起舞，他们常穿着一模一样的黑色燕尾服。一位伴舞者戴着飘逸的粉色围巾，围巾随着舞步在他的身后飘扬。 40岁的瑞典人厄休拉·赫格琳说：“如果两个男人一起跳拉丁，会显得很有力量。他们在舞池里表现出来的优雅是一流的。” 如果两个女人做舞伴，会更优美。 赫格琳和45岁的罗达娜·昆蒂既是舞伴，又是情侣。她们俩都穿了一条连衣裙，赫格琳穿的是粉色，而昆蒂穿的是黑色。 赫格琳说：“她领舞，我伴舞。和这些朋友们在一起感觉真的很好，我们可以做自己想做的事。” 来自纽约的一对交际舞老手说，同性交际舞比传统的交际舞更加自由。 26岁的雅各布·詹森说：“你可以表现出更多的东西，你的舞步也会更加自如多样。这样的交际舞更具美感”。他的搭档是26岁的威勒姆·德弗利斯。 但是困难同样存在。男人们要适应和一个有着与自己同样大手的舞伴一起跳舞。女人的难处呢？来自加利福尼亚北部的塔拉·沃尔什说，两个女人靠的很近的情况下，胸部占的空间要比一男一女时要大。 (英语点津姗姗编辑)