A Slippery Slope
The Pain Dealer, A Slippery Slope Sunday, May 16, 2004 Susan Vinella
Steven Arness laced up his skates, slipped on his gloves and started toward the frozen oval at Kent State University’s ice arena. Before his blades touched the ice, the whispers began. People stared. Some frowned. Others giggled.
What, they all wondered, is with this guy wearing a dress?
The 34-year-old Arness says it’s not what some people think. He has no agenda, no deep-rooted desire to express a feminine side and absolutely no intention to prey on children. The self-employed computer cable installer and summertime Go Kart park manager simply likes to glide across the ice in women’s skating dresses.
“I like the flow,” Arness says. “I’m attracted to the movement. I’m fascinated with the styles ladies get to wear.”
Some in the Greater Cleveland skating community are less than fascinated with Arness. They find him disruptive, weird and even a little scary. His unorthodox attire has prompted discussion about whether rinks can impose dress codes for public skating sessions.
Others have skipped the discussion and gone straight to outrage.
One recent Tuesday evening, parents complained to management at Brooklyn’s rink when a photographer showed up to take pictures of Arness skating in a dress and tights during a public session. Some called Arness a “faggot” and “pervert” and used profanity and obscene finger gestures toward both the photographer and Arness.
Several parents pulled their children off the ice, demanded a refund and left.
“They didn’t want their little kids photographed with a guy wearing a skirt,” says Al Sforzo, recreation commissioner for the city of Brooklyn.
After the incident, Sforzo spoke to the city’s law director, who told him the rink had no legal right to ban Arness from skating in dresses. “We don’t like it, but there’s nothing we can do,” Sforzo says. “We don’t like it because it doesn’t seem appropriate. But he has the right to dress how he wants.”
Last year, when Arness first showed up in Brooklyn, Sforzo called several other local rinks to find out if they had a dress code, or planned to create one, for skaters who attend public sessions. No one did, he says, and no one wants to initiate one for fear of a discrimination lawsuit.
Rinks can mandate skating attire during public sessions only to enforce safety, says Sforzo.
Skating clubs have more leeway. Because they buy ice time for their skaters to use during private sessions, they essentially “own” the ice during that time and have the right to impose dress codes for any reason. Men must wear pants.
So that he can wear his dresses and pay less for ice time, Arness skates during public sessions. He has about 100 skating outfits which are basically leotards with skirts but wears only 20 of his favorites, mostly in shades of blue.
He doesn’t understand clothing restrictions that clubs impose on men.
“Ladies can wear pants or skirts,” he says. “Men can wear pants only. I find that discriminating.”
Still, as a member of the Kent Skating Club, he refuses to be ignored. He insisted his photo in which he is wearing pants over his dress be displayed on the bulletin board with the rest of the club members, most of them girls. He is the only adult pictured.
He has filed two grievances with the club; one complaining about being discriminated against because he’s an adult, another complaining about “unprofessional” behavior from one of the coaches there. He says several skaters stopped talking to him after their coach told them to stay away from him.
“Whatever her opinion is, she should not be using her professional status to influence her students like that,” says Arness, who took up skating three years ago.
He says he plans to take his complaints to U.S. Figure Skating, the sport’s national governing body, if they are not resolved to his satisfaction.
Kent Skating Club president Lanna Omlor calls Arness a “nice” guy but otherwise declines to discuss him.
Arness says he is not out to make trouble. He just wants to be welcomed for who he is.
Though he describes himself as “weird,” he says his penchant for skating in dresses has no hidden meaning or malicious intent. He doesn’t believe he’s a woman in a man’s body, which is a typical belief of cross-dressers. (He says he was asked to leave a local cross-dressing group because he’s comfortable with his gender. )
Off the ice, he wears pants and dates women. He says he wants to marry someday, although girlfriends often flee when they learn about his dresses. “Talk about a sonic boom,” he says.
Friend and former coach Chandra Morgan-Henley of Cleveland says there is no need to fear Arness. “I think there are too many adults who worry that because he’s different he’s a threat. Once you get to know Steven, you realize his clothing quirks are only clothing quirks.”
Others don’t accept that.
Arness says several mothers whose children skate with him during afternoon sessions at Kent are morally opposed to him and worry that he might harm their children. He found their opposition so hurtful at first, he stopped skating for a month.
One woman, who was reading the Bible while her 15-year-old daughter skated, acknowledged that she has instructed Arness not to talk to her daughter. She declined to give her name and says she and Arness have agreed not to speak.
Coaches, too, can find it difficult to be associated with Arness.
Leslie Shackelford-Rinicella, a longtime coach with one of the highest certifications in skating, says she’s seen a lot in her 20-year career, but Arness’ situation “definitely took the cake.”
“I took a lot of flak” for coaching him, Shackelford-Rinicella says. “A lot of coaches in the area said: Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you want to keep getting beat up?'”
Shackelford-Rinicella says she wanted to help Arness because “he has a very good heart.”
At the same time, she wanted him to understand that “you can’t change 100 years of tradition.”
“I don’t think the ice rink is the place to stand on his pedestal,” she says.
Shackelford-Rinicella took a full-time job in December at a local fitness club and Arness has been searching for a replacement coach ever since. In the meantime, he attends adult learn-to-skate classes and practices on his own during public sessions.
If he can find a coach, he hopes to begin competing soon. But there are dress codes for competition, too. If he enters adult “freestyle” competitions freestyle is the type of skating seen in the Olympics he will receive an automatic deduction if he wears a skirt, according to U.S. Figure Skating rules. Interpretative competitions, however, permit skaters to wear costumes, so a skirt might be OK.
Some don’t care what Arness wears on the ice.
Marie Sorkin of Ravenna was impressed when she spotted Arness skating across the Kent rink in a navy velour skating dress, tan tights and white skates during a recent outing with her son-in-law and five grandchildren.
“The first thing I said to my son-in-law was, I can’t tell what gender that person is, but what great legs,'” Sorkin says.
When Arness skated closer and she realized he was a man, she shrugged it off.
“You go to public places, what’s out there is out there.”
Susan Vinella is a Plain Dealer sportswriter who covers figure skating. She used to wear leotards when she competed in gymnastics, but no skirts. She may be reached at 216-999-5010 or through magmail@plaind.com.