'Queer Skateboardg': Photographer documents gay skater culture

Contents:

• THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN
• THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST
• 'QUEER SKATEBOARDG': PHOTOGRAPHER DOCUMENTS GAY SKATER CULTURE
• 'GAYT SPORT AMERI'
• THERE ARE 8 OUT GAY MALE SKATERS AT THE OLYMPICS. IN 2014, THERE WERE 0.
• OPENLY GAY FIGURE SKATER MAK U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM AND HISTORY

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. " Of urse, there have been numero gay skaters at the Olympics -- multiple queer Olympic champns, even...

THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST

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.

'QUEER SKATEBOARDG': PHOTOGRAPHER DOCUMENTS GAY SKATER CULTURE

So we had to be very mdful of that, and I knew that, so I had to sort of lie and not be tthful about all [my skatg partner Tai and I] turned pro 1980, and did Ice Capas and all that, was a ltle better bee people on the show were gay.

I thk that the outsi assumptn is that everybody skatg is gay, and that bee of that would jt be a very safe place for queer people. As soon as I entered a more ser rk when I was around 10, and really started pursug more serly, I was super, super nsc of the fact that they were nng a b through every kid through the lens of "Is this kid gay?

" I mean, I was asked if I was gay at a very, very young age and told that I was gay and told that I was very, very, very gay-- jt like the most. I thk 's only seen [that there is] one kd of queer person, which is a gay person-- and to be hont, a gay man.

'GAYT SPORT AMERI'

[Growg up, ] my only unrstandg of gay people or of queer people was when our prit, our preacher, was speakg about them the church. And would be a hellfire speech sayg, "gay people are abomatns and gog to hell" and "you better not be gay.

THERE ARE 8 OUT GAY MALE SKATERS AT THE OLYMPICS. IN 2014, THERE WERE 0.

" And that was my only unrstandg of gay people, so never nnected for me. I started referrg to myself as queer [about] four years ago, rather than gay. Joe has talked about [how] he felt trated by the fact that people jt assumed he was a gay man bee he was a figure skater.

OPENLY GAY FIGURE SKATER MAK U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM AND HISTORY

Natnal champn and a two-time world middle school and certaly high school, was like, "Oh, you [do] figure skatg, you mt be gay, " and people askg me, "Oh, well, if you n skate that well, why don't you play hockey?

I n tell you for certa I wasn't gog to get up at my [2002] Olympic prs nference and be like, "Oh, and by the way, I'm gay.