Gay surfer talks about the new surfg doc film, 'Out the Le-Up' - Outsports

Contents:

• THIS GAY PRO SURFER ME OUT TO HIS "MAT" WHEN A GROCERY CLERK H ON HIM
• 'OUT IN THE LP,' GAY SURFER DOCUMENTARY, LNCH KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN (VIDEO)
• GAY SURFERS DOCUMENTARY
• GAY SURFER TALKS ABOUT THE NEW SURFG DOC FILM, 'OUT THE LE-UP'
• PHOTOS: CHANGG THE TI FOR GAY SURFERS
• GAY SURFERS GET "OUT IN THE LE-UP"

THIS GAY PRO SURFER ME OUT TO HIS "MAT" WHEN A GROCERY CLERK H ON HIM

Cast & crewUser reviews2014Not Rated1h 9mTwo gay surfers embark on a global journey to unver the taboo of homosexualy surfg.

Read allTwo gay surfers embark on a global journey to unver the taboo of homosexualy surfg.

'OUT IN THE LP,' GAY SURFER DOCUMENTARY, LNCH KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN (VIDEO)

They bee part of an emergg muny prepared to step out of the shadows of secrecy and create a more open and acceptg surfg gay surfers embark on a global journey to unver the taboo of homosexualy surfg. They bee part of an emergg muny prepared to step out of the shadows of secrecy and create a more open and acceptg surfg productn, box office & pany PhotosMore like thisReview GroundbreakgGround-breakg do that hopefully will allow more gay surfers to e out whout fear of beg bullied. The people are so strong pecially the French founr of the gay surfg webse.

GAY SURFERS DOCUMENTARY

“I thought would be nice if I uld fd at least one other gay surfer out there, ” he says.

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.

GAY SURFER TALKS ABOUT THE NEW SURFG DOC FILM, 'OUT THE LE-UP'

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. “I have seen so many talented female surfers e and go bee they didn’t have the support om the surfg dtry due to the fact that they were eher gay, spected of beg gay, not feme enough or they simply did not f the image that brands believe sells product, ” she says. “To e out as gay the surfg dtry is to step out of the bounds of what is nsired ‘marketable’, so I suffered the nsequenc of that, ” she actn shot om Out the Le-up.

PHOTOS: CHANGG THE TI FOR GAY SURFERS

Photograph: PRFor Ian Thomson, who directed the documentary and is himself gay and a surfer, is not jt the profsnal aspect of surfg that n feel very hostile to a gay person. “You hear a lot of homophobic banter out there, ” he says. The way a lot of the guys do that is by puttg other people down, and homophobic slurs are part of that.

If you are gay, is very nontg. And you get this msage that if any way I show my te self – my homosexualy – I’m jt gonna get massacred out here.

”The issue of homosexualy and surfg draws a lot of wir problems the sport has wh diversy general – somethg that seems at odds wh the easy-gog, unterculture liftyle many feel reprents. There is still yet to be an openly gay male pro surfer at the ele level who is currently on tour – spe the fact that more tradnal sports, such as football, gby and boxg, have had succsful athlet e out.

GAY SURFERS GET "OUT IN THE LE-UP"

And another e is jt that there have never really been any gay surfers out there, so I would jt ll that ignorance and a lack of visibily. ”The aim of the film – which has been shortlisted to be ed as part of the tn programme Atralian high schools – is not simply to challenge homophobia surfg, but also to help refe and mornise the image of homosexualy general.

“The media is still picturg gay people as livg the cy, wearg the same cloth, gog to parti …” says Castets, who feels that the perceptn of gay culture – a siar way to surfg – hasn’t evolved much sce the 80s.

“I thought if we were able to make this film, we would be able to change that stereotype and show a new image of what is to be gay 2014. It go beyond jt gay surfers.

A few months after we started this webse, a surfer named Thomas wrote and published a piece about the experience of beg a gay surfer.

OUT the Lp is a new documentary that exam homosexualy surfg. I thought that if people found out that I was gay that they would no longer want to be associated wh me and would thk of me as jt another stereotype. All the lols at home know that I'm gay, and they're not aaid to give me some harmls playful stick about the water.

As a mate of me that I do a b of travelg wh for surf put , "If someone stops likg you for beg gay, then what kd of msag do that breath about that person? One of my mat has known that I am gay sce school, and my other mate I've gone to great lengths to hi to him the fact that I'm gay.

That night we got on the beer and I said enough is enough and turned to mate and said to him "man, I'm sorry, I'm gay.