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
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O TABU SER UM SURFISTA GAY
Gay surf mps are, thankfully, on the rise. Here, exame the bt om Brazil, Costa Ri, the Canary Islands and Atralia! * tabla surf 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.
When Thomas lled me and talked about his film, you see how homophobic [thgs n be], pecially at the profsnal level.
* tabla surf gay *
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.
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. ”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.