We're queer and we're here

Someone I know through face book and chat to about how awesome skating is raised a question recently... Where are the queer skaters and queer culture within skating? He'd just come out as queer to his skate friends and it had been a complete non event (rather like my experience of coming out as queer to my skate friends), and he was wondering why, if skaters are so open minded (and they are), isn't there a recognised queer culture in skating?

It's a good question... The are undoubtedly lots of queer skaters, and queer and skate culture both have roots in rebellious counter cultures where the freedom to express yourself was prized, so why do queer skaters, by and large, choose not to share that bit of themselves with the world?

At this point someone usually chimes in with the “someone's sexuality has no place in skating, skaters are skaters” argument. Which is great, except for the fact that saying something doesn't actually make it true. When sponsored queer skaters are asking where the rest of the queer skaters are - it is a problem... Not because queer skaters should have to broadcast the fact that they're queer, but simply because virtually no one has. There are some high profile, openly queer female skaters but I can't think of any equivalent guys. EDIT - I now know that there is at least one openly queer male pro in the longboarding world.

There is a huge problem with homophobia in skating, and it's very rarely addressed. You may think that throwing the term “gay” about when your buddy does something stupid or a bit lame is harmless, but it isn't. It subtly frames gay in the negative, and given that even in these supposedly enlightened times people are still struggling with coming out, being reminded that gay = wrong by a bunch of people who claim to be accepting of difference can be like a kick in the cunt. And don't get me started on using faggot as an insult because right now, somewhere in the world, someone is being beaten to death by people yelling that very word at them*. So just don't okay.

There is a macho culture that permeates skating, you know, the whole lifestyle thing of how long your last standie was, how fast you've been, how much skin you've sacrificed to skatan and how many beers you've shot gunned at the end of the day. Which is cool, a lot of skating can be like that, but when it gets packaged up and sold by big business as the entirety of the skating lifestyle it creates a toxic space where being perceived as anything other than some sort of hyper-bro stereotype is frowned upon. And because stereotypical bros are always straight, queer skaters get pushed aside. Life isn't that black and white though, how you act and project yourself has little relation to who you're attracted to, but there's this enduring and completely false belief that queer women are women who want to be guys and queer guys are guys who want to be women. And that all feeds into the way the patriarchy deems anything to do with women to somehow be lesser than men, so we end up in a situation where gay and faggot are used as put downs for guys who don't conform.

This is bullshit and we need to call time on it right now, because the “skaters are skaters” line should be true... who you're attracted to has no bearing on your ability to skate, just as your gender has no bearing on your ability to skate. But skaters, and the skate community, need to act in a way that makes this true, rather than just firing off the line when ever anyone tries to talk about it. So stop throwing gay and faggot around as insults, and call out your friends when they do it, because you never know who is listening. Make skating a space that is truly welcoming to anyone who wants to be a part of it.

As skaters we've spent far too long ignoring this issue, pretending that it doesn't exist. But people are ready to talk about it... This is just a start. Basically we're queer and we're here... actually we've always been here. But that really doesn't change anything so lets go skate.

*I have no way of determining if this is true but it probably is because the world can suck when you're queer.