hi, you called? Queer non-binary humanoid over here.
I came out a while ago to some family and close friends of mine with the sexuality portion of my identity. But never to my few skate friends growing up because the skate scene where I lived was, and still is, plagued with bigot skate jocks. There is a custom made neo-nazi swastika board hanging on the ceiling of the local skate shop to this day. At one point I quit skating for years because I would get slurs thrown at me from the older guys because of my race, god knows what would have happened if they knew I was queer as well.
I moved away for college and was way more open about my identity to my roommates, coworkers, and friends who didn't skate. But I fell back into the closet around my skate friends because old habits die hard. I was used to creating carpenmentalized groups of people who knew about my identity and those who didn't. It was exhausting and now I regret it. There was one person who knew because I would constantly talk about cute skater bois was on our radio show, and he's a Pal here on Slap, so shouts out to you.
Only recently as of this year was when I came out as an enby. Gender euphoria is real and it feels fucking fantastic. Once I connected the dots of all the signs growing up that I was trans it hit me like a ton of bricks. But the timing sucked because I had to move back home because of COVID. And now I am semi back in the closet and don't dress femme that often because I have 0 support here, skate alone, and am once again located in one of the most bigoted places in the country. Violence against trans people is very real and always on the back of my mind.
But there was one place where I could skate comfortably and be my true authentic self - the Rockridge curbs. I would make the 8-hour pilgrimage all the way to that dirty parking lot because it was seemingly the only place where I knew I was safe. For the first time in my life, my two separate parts of myself being a skater and being queer/trans finally came together. I saw openly queer and trans skaters in person, young and old, just being themselves and ripping the place up. Unity had opened the flood gates a year prior and what I saw was the result of a community blossoming and flourishing before my eyes. I am so happy for the queer and trans youth today who are growing up with companies like Unity, There, Glue, Baby Skateboards, and Pave the Way at their side and in full support.
It's so great that so many of you are posting in this thread, including the brand new accounts, and some of you I had no idea were queer. Also major shout out to all our cis straight allies in here, y'all rule. I love all you beautiful souls. Hopefully this thread is enough to bring GAY out of hibernation lol. If any of you want to connect on IG and link up in the future after COVID, drop me a PM. <3
Topic: queer skaters talking about queer shit (Read 134764 times)