“All skate, all skate!” When Elynor Gould’s voice me over the public addrs system at Gay Blas Roller Rk, the skaters on the floor – sometim numberg the hundreds – knew that the upl’ skate, backwards skate, Hokey Pokey or other specialty spotlight was over. “All skate” was the announcement that everyone, no matter
Contents:
- OAKS PARK GAY SKATE IS ON A ROLL
- VTAGE ST. PETE: WHEN GAY BLAS WAS THE CENTER OF THE SKATG UNIVERSE
- THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN
- GGER MJ - DRAG, LIVE, GAY AND EVEN ON ROLLER SKAT
OAKS PARK GAY SKATE IS ON A ROLL
* gay on roller skates *
Startg January 2022, Oaks Park will host Gay Skate on the first and third Monday of every month. The first time I went to Gay Skate at Oaks Park, I was 19, and on a first date wh a girl om my llege.
It’s been around for so long that now people who started g to Gay Skate as teens n brg their own children to the event. Back when Safar first started spng there, Gay Skate looked a ltle different. Started 1991 as a fundraiser for gay men’s square-dancg group the Rosetown Ramblers, the event almost exclively attracted gay men s earlit days—no women and fely no LGBTQ youth.
In her time, she’s seen Gay Skate go om an event that pulled 50 people to one that attracts hundreds. In fact, the event has gotten so popular that, startg January 2022, Oaks Park will start prentg Gay Skate twice a month, every first and third Monday. But Gay Skate offers an alternative, all-ag space to e together.
VTAGE ST. PETE: WHEN GAY BLAS WAS THE CENTER OF THE SKATG UNIVERSE
” Years after she started workg here, MacKay has two dghters who e to Gay Skate nights. The last skate of 2021 was Gay Skate’s 30th anniversary, and the team went all out.
What is the associatn between rollerbladg and beg gay all about? Most of the quad skaters I know are gay women. As a gay man I do not get skatg, aggrsive skatg pecially, seems very much straight men.
Is jt that was mp and people were homophobic?
THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN
You n fd untls pop culture referenc about skatg where 's a punch le to a joke -- TV shows like Friends ("I'm an ice dancer -- all my iends are gay! That uldn't be farther om the prence of queer skaters the sport n be traced as far back as the 1950s, wasn't until 2018 that Adam Rippon and Eric Radford beme the first out gay figure skaters to pete at the Olympics.
GGER MJ - DRAG, LIVE, GAY AND EVEN ON ROLLER SKAT
" Of urse, there have been numero gay skaters at the Olympics -- multiple queer Olympic champns, even...
I thk as I got olr, was fely this ternalized sense of homophobia that I felt was pletely rampant. So I skated to Ida Corr, this club song om 2007 (keepg current), and you know, was kda gay. And so I remember I jt kept this program and I skated at Skate Ameri, this like gay-ish program.
We had to sort of play by those l bee beg gay on the Olympic stage and the world stage, an ele athlete, you have to be reful bee the reputatn of endorsements was on the table.