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It bums me out that professional sports has an openly gay player before skateboarding because ultimately it says something is really wrong with the skateboarding industry if a tenured dude with a SOTY at the tail end of his career with nothing to lose in terms of cash or numbers cant say that hes gay out loud. Organized sports is more progressive about LGBT shit than skateboarding is? Pretty fucking lame.
But i could totally be wrong. Brett easton ellis wrote this article about how the media puts gay people on a pedestal and treats them like 5 year olds that just drew their first picture and not like people just trying to live their lives. He goes on to talk about how GLAAD has some agenda or whatever but the larger point about how we treat members of the LGBT community less like people and more like kids remains.
www.out.com/news-opinion/2013/05/13/bret-easton-ellis-gay-men-magical-elves
This is probably the real reason BA doesn't come out publicly. I think Ed mentioned it in some video; to come out would make that person "the gay skater" and put them in a spotlight they might not want to be in, and I can't blame them for that. Though I do think it would go a long way towards making other gay kids that skate feel less ostracized in an activity that's supposed to be accepting of outsiders.
Fuck Bret Ellis. He seriously comes off as wanting shit to be worse for gay people. He is total Debbie Downer, who sounds like he is not totally comfortable with being gay or he resents being born gay. I thought the whole "It Gets Better" campaign shit was sort of lame, but at least it got some people to come out and try to let LGBTQ youth know that being young, queer, and hated doesn't mean shit, as there is a lot more to life than high school. As much as some would hate to say it, celebrities, athletes, and other pop culture people influence the way a lot of people think. At least it was trying to change some kind of attitude instead of ignoring it. I think a lot of queer people will tell you that being young was rough, but you start to see things a lot clearer when you get out of the high school mentality.
I also understand his point, but again, he seems to ignore the bigger picture. LGBTQ people have been treated like shit for years. They will start being treated like everyone else once the media/society figures out where the boundaries are. And what were they supposed to do? Find some way to attack him? Coming out can be a pretty big media stunt nowadays, and I prefer people come out like Jodie Foster did than on the cover of Star magazine. But I rather there be a discussion in popular culture than pretend it isn't an issue. It must be hard as fucking to come out in a sport dominated by jock mentalities.
Also, as for the BA thing and being labeled the "gay skater". I understand that, but the reality is someone is going to have to be "the gay skater" at some point. The label is only going to stick until others start coming forward, and then it isn't going to be a big deal at all. Skateboarding might be accepting of all types of people, but it doesn't seem like anyone wants to come out and be open about their gay personal life, at least not current pro/am. We hear plenty about hooking up with chicks or having girlfriends, but there's no discussion about dudes anywhere. I just wish someone would do it and fucking get it over with.
I am a gay, by the way!
Topic: Gay skateboarders (bi,lesbian,trans) (Read 17540 times)