Now, I know some of y’all are about to get in the comments section and ask, “Who cares? What’s the big fucking deal?” First off, let’s dispense with the whole “nobody cares who you fuck as long as you shred” thing. What you just did is fucking brave and radical, in every sense.
What took us so long?” But then I remembered that it’s because professional skateboarding exists to sell shit to teenage boys, and the pressure and scrutiny that come with being “the First Gay Pro Skateboarder” is tremendous. My initial reaction to the news that Brian Anderson came out was, “It’s 2016, we have openly gay soldiers and NBA players.
I have been skateboarding for roughly twenty years and kissing boys for thirteen. I mean, growing up was hard and awkward enough without having to try and account for feelings we’d been implicitly taught were wrong or weak or “gay,” so we reached out to someone who might have a little more insight into what it was like to grow up gay in skateboarding. It’s a big step for the heteronormative skateboarding industry, and the sheer positivity of the responses gives hope that other skaters can come out and be respected, even if they haven’t front blunted Hubba Hideout.Īs a crew of a few straight dudes (who have admittedly marketed ourselves using hetero male fantasies), it’s difficult for us to really imagine the leap of faith it would take to put ourselves out there in the way BA just did. Either way, he’s out, and words and emojis of support have been coming in from every direction. Maybe you heard it first as a rumor at your local skateshop, or maybe you found out two days ago when BA publically came out on Giovanni Reda’s show on Vice. I’m sure we won’t be the first to tell you that Brian Anderson is gay.