Legendary Pro Skater Brian Anrson Com Out as Gay – Rollg Stone

Contents:

• BRIAN ANRSON, SKATEBOARDG STAR, COM OUT AS GAY
• THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• 'QUEER SKATEBOARDG': PHOTOGRAPHER DOCUMENTS GAY SKATER CULTURE
• PROFSNAL SKATEBOARR OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• LEGENDARY PRO SKATER BRIAN ANRSON COM OUT AS GAY

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.

THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN

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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

“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. “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.

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.

'QUEER SKATEBOARDG': PHOTOGRAPHER DOCUMENTS GAY SKATER CULTURE

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. Three Olympic figure skaters have e out for Pri Month, cludg two gay men and a queer woman. The three athlet are: Amerin sgl figure skater Jason Brown, who is gay; Canadian ice dancer Pl Poirier, who is gay, and Canadian ice dancer Kalyn Weaver, who is queer.

I’m gay, and that’s a story still beg wrten... “[Beg a gay athlete] hasn’t been somethg that I’ve really talked about very much, pecially a public settg, ” Poirier said. -- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar suatns.It's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn."I don't want to feel like I have to thk about anymore," Maxen said the piece published Thursday afternoon.

Outsi lebacker Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay and to play a game 2021.The Associated Prs ntributed to this report.

PROFSNAL SKATEBOARR OUT AS GAY

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

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!

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS 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... 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.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

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. [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. " 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.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS 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. 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.

There was a lot of ternalized homophobia and a lot of fear that om the scty of the general public. Figure Skatg Diversy, Equy, and Incln Task kd of knew of the officials that were gay, maybe some of the skaters that were gay, but they didn't really talk about . I was almost dyg to learn this history of gays skatg that I didn't even know about bee was somethg that nobody ever talked about.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

I would even say, to this day, I'm still learng more and more about wonrful ntributors to this sport of figure skatg the past that we maybe didn't hear so much about jt bee they were gay.

”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.

LEGENDARY PRO SKATER BRIAN ANRSON COM OUT AS GAY

Pro skateboarr Brian Anrson recently beme the first major skateboarr to publicly announce his homosexualy. Dpe the unterculture edge on which skateboardg pris self, the homophobia found other male-domated cultur is very prent. All the kids who were stg there at home thkg, like, ‘Wa, my favore skater is gay?

But the whole 40 years of profsnal skateboardg, there has never been a proment and openly gay pro.