'Queer Skateboardg': Photographer documents gay skater culture

Contents:

• BRIAN ANRSON, SKATEBOARDG STAR, COM OUT AS GAY
• A BRIEF LOOK AT SKATEBOARDG'S GAY PAST
• 'QUEER SKATEBOARDG': PHOTOGRAPHER DOCUMENTS GAY SKATER CULTURE
• GAY TWIST
• GAYTWIST

BRIAN ANRSON, SKATEBOARDG STAR, COM OUT AS GAY

“My name is Brian Anrson, I’m a profsnal skateboarr, and we are here to talk about the fact that I am gay, ” Mr. Anrson, who liv Queens, beme skateboardg’s most proment pro star to e out as gay, jog the steady trickle of athlet om other sports who have done so over the last few years. Anrson said an terview Wednday all s untercultural ol, skateboardg has historilly been party to the same kds of homophobia found other male-domated stutns.

Until fairly recently, many skate parks had a certa locker-room feel, wh gay slurs and sensive jok. There is even a 1980s-era trick lled the Gay Twist, a homophobic reference to beg “the gay way” of performg a particular kd of recently, skateboardg culture has shifted. There have been skateboard graphics celebratg gay marriage and magaze articl qutng why so few skaters are out.

“All the kids who were stg there at home thkg, like, ‘Wa, my favore skater is gay? Friends and dtry sirs have been aware for more than a , and mors that he may be gay have been a equent topic of discsn skateboard rners of the March, durg a skate ntt Tampa, Fla., Gvanni Reda, a iend and director, asked Mr.

A BRIEF LOOK AT SKATEBOARDG'S GAY PAST

“At first he was a ltle apprehensive, and I was like, ‘Du, there is probably a kid here right now who is gay, ” Mr. ” Rpect and sponsorships followed, but he kept his sexualy a Anrson told Vice that hearg gay slurs all the time ma him thk at a young age that was “really dangero” to talk about his gay may be easier today, he add the terview, but ’s still not easy. He kept his sexualy hidn for fear would kill his burgeong reer, and the vio suggts that skateboardg wasn’t ready for a gay skater when Mr.

'QUEER SKATEBOARDG': PHOTOGRAPHER DOCUMENTS GAY SKATER CULTURE

There was also the time he was at the Eagle, a gay bar Portland, Ore., when a fellow skateboarr regnized him. 29, 2016: Bee of an edg error, an earlier versn of this article misstated the source of a statement by Brian Anrson that hearg gay slurs ma him believe at a young age that was “really dangero” to talk about his sexualy. He is the most proment profsnal skateboarr to e out as gay, not the we handle rrectnsA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn ST, Page 10 of the New York edn wh the headle: A Skater’s Most Forceful Move Yet.

GAY TWIST

”Self-portra of photographer Ross Lannberger Oak Ridge, LannbergerLannberger adms that as a gay kid skateboardg at his lol skate park a suburban Tennsee, he never felt all that weled by other skateboarrs. “Once I was a ltle b olr, and knowg I was gay, and people throwg around slurs all the time, jt beg around that, I had no tert beg iends wh the people. It wasn’t until profsnal skateboarr Brian Anrson me out as gay 2016, that Lannberger began to realize there uld be a space for him to be openly gay while also beg embraced wh a sometim homophobic skateboardg culture.

"Skateboarr Ryan Schertz, LannbergerSce 2017, Lannberger has been travelg to different ci and documentg the liv of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer skateboarrs for his photo project tled “Queer Skateboardg. Gay people skate.

GAYTWIST

When asked about her orientatn terviews sometim she jt bsh the qutn of wh “I’m gay. A said thg to note is that he hid his sexualy for many years bee he felt would hurt his reer to be openly gay the “macho” world of skateboardg. She is openly gay and her fay supports her orientatn which is not always the se nservative untri like the Philipp.