For all of the eye-openg experienc associated wh the sport of surfg, there seems to be ltle mentn or acknowledgment of surfg’s gay muny.
Contents:
- THIS GAY SURFER STARTED AN ONLYFANS PAGE TO FEEL SEXY, AND ’S WORKG
- THIS GAY PRO SURFER ME OUT TO HIS "MAT" WHEN A GROCERY CLERK H ON HIM
- SURFG HELPED GAY ATHLETE E TO TERMS WH HIS SEXUALY
- ARE THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS A GAY BAND?
- COMG OUT: TO BE A GAY SURFER
- GAY SURFERS GET "OUT IN THE LE-UP"
THIS GAY SURFER STARTED AN ONLYFANS PAGE TO FEEL SEXY, AND ’S WORKG
A new documentary sh a light on gay surfers around the world, and fds secret liv, stggl for sponsorship – and even suicis. <strong>Will Coldwell</strong> reports * surfers gay *
Many of fd pri nightlife; others meet fellow LGBTQ people through gay sports leagu, an opportuny to fd chosen fay while playg kickball or water polo. So the recently blossomg ttage dtry of gay surf muni marks another, much-need space that allows queer people to be their thentic selv—while also gettg traed a sport they might have long been terted but never felt like they uld be a part ’s still early days for the LGBTQ surf world, but visible muni of queer surfers have begun to bubble up recent years, spac welg everyone om longtime thrill-seekers who’ve felt the need to keep their sexualy unr wraps to those seekg the joy of ridg a wave for the first time their Brazil native Marta Dalla Chia is jt one advote spearheadg this changg current.
One of their most buzzed-about packag is lled, simply, Gay Surf Brazil; ’s a weeklong retreat that nnects LGBTQ+ people terted surfg while also helpg to fight homophobia surfg by simply existg wh the space.
It was started 2013, origally partnership wh Thomas Castets, the founr of the social work and producer of Out the Le-up, a documentary about what ’s like to be gay the world of surfg. “I had never realized the extent of homophobia surfg, ” Dalla Chia says “I always had the imprsn surfers are so chill, that they wouldn't be bothered about this.
THIS GAY PRO SURFER ME OUT TO HIS "MAT" WHEN A GROCERY CLERK H ON HIM
Gay profsnal surfer Craig Butler once bullied kids durg his youth. It's one of his biggt regrets. Now he is tryg to change how people look at gay men sports like surfg. * surfers gay *
When Thomas lled me and talked about his film, you see how homophobic [thgs n be], pecially at the profsnal level.
In the Stat or Atralia, I thk the homophobia is there even if 's subdued. ”Out the Le-up offers a sweepg overview of the challeng that gay surfers around the world have faced, cludg fdg kship wh people like themselv—a mon stggle the LGBTQ muny—and a lack of sponsorships as out gay surfers at the profsnal level.
SURFG HELPED GAY ATHLETE E TO TERMS WH HIS SEXUALY
Nick Vallejo is a swimmer, surfer and lifeguard who stggled rencilg his relign wh beg gay. * surfers gay *
In a 2014 terview wh The Guardian, Castets explaed surfg’s ep-rooted homophobia more pth.
There have never really been any gay surfers out there, so I would jt ll that ignorance and a lack of visibily. Marketg for popular surfer brands also ntue to be heteronormative, rercg archaic genr rol—Billabong land hot water back 2017 for an ad that many lled sexist bee while showed a male surfer shreddg wav, the female was featured posg sensually on the beach a biki wh no surfboard the past few years hostg Gay Surf Brazil, Dalla Chia has heard stori om people who didn’t feel fortable divg to the sport bee of s “macho culture.
ARE THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS A GAY BAND?
* surfers gay *
”In the Uned Kgdom, London-based actor Mattie Stewart and his iend Kris Cilak have been planng trips they’ve dubbed Gay Surf Week for the past three years.
Stewart only started surfg three years ago while on a trip to Fuerteventura Spa’s Canary Islands and fell love wh the sport, so he and Cilak cid to turn to a hashtag (#GaySurfWeek) and a yearly travel statn. Now, anizg Gay Surf Week has bee a retreat of sorts, givg him the opportuny to fd mararie wh other gay surfers.
While same-sex marriage is legal and Brazil's Supreme Court voted favor of makg homophobia and transphobia crim, vlence agast LGBTQ people ntu. In 2018, 420 LGBT people were killed across Brazil acrdg to the rights group the Gpo Gay da Bahia. Addnally, Jair Bolsonaro, the untry’s current far-right print and a self-clared homophobe said earlier this year that “we n’t let this place bee known as a gay tourism paradise.
COMG OUT: TO BE A GAY SURFER
Brazil n’t be a untry of the gay world, of gay tourism. ” (Bolsonaro is also famoly known for havg said he would rather have a ad son than a gay son.
)Due largely to the polil suatn Brazil at the moment and some ncellatns, Gay Surf Brazil has had to put plans for this year’s ftivi on hold. “I thought would be nice if I uld fd at least one other gay surfer out there, ” he says.
GAY SURFERS GET "OUT IN THE LE-UP"
And as the membership grew – to clu many who thought they were only gay surfer the world – so did the stori. Surfers, cludg many profsnal on, were wrg to Castets to expla how they had felt pelled to keep their sexualy secret, faced homophobia the sport or stggled the surf dtry as a rult of g year Thomas, along wh Atralian former state champn surfer David Wakefield – who chose not to pursue a surfg reer out of a fear of beg “found out” as gay – cid to go on a trip around the world to meet some of them. Their journey – ptured award-wng documentary Out the Le-up, which premier the UK this week – sheds a light on the experienc of gay surfers around the world as seeks to unrstand why the sport ntu to stggle to be open about the the stori heard are that of former petive surfer Sie Hernanz, whose fellow surfers and roommat moved out after fdg out she was gay.
It also touch on the tragic se of Ben Roper, a young gay surfer om one of Sydney’s famo surf gangs, the Bra Boys, who killed himself last year. At the time, she felt unable to adm that she was gay.