Skating Through Homophobia Proud and Free.

I found the coolest skate video today. And also a big uplift for skateboarding in general. While not the first and certainly not the last (especially after this), legendary skateboarder and former Skate of The Year, Brian Anderson, has come out. As in out out. A shock to some, just another day on the ledges for others. Either way, you can't deny how big this is for skateboarding and for the gay community at large. Skateboarding, unfortunately, has often echoed homophobia throughout it's tenure. It sucks. Hell, even hip hop and rap still have these ideas and that music genre goes hand-in-hand with skateboarding. So, it's obvious that this isn't intrinsic to solely skateboarding or music or anything. It's a worldwide issue. Like racism, homophobia hasn't gone away. But acceptance of the gay lifestyle has certainly gotten better. Cheers to that.
I can't truly imagine how difficult it must be to carry a secret like that for so many years in a community, a culture, that screamed homophobia for so long. It takes guts to throw down hammers like BA and he's been doing that for years. All while hiding the biggest secret of his life. It takes gigantic balls to come out and finally say "No more hiding, no more shame, no more fear. This is ME." How rad is that?
Courage is a funny thing. Often we find it within alcohol, or marijuana, or click clacking behind a keyboard, far from the confrontation of real life interaction. Real courage though, comes from within and expressing that courage is an amazing thing when witnessed. I cannot applaud Brian Anderson enough for this move. I'm filled with excitement for the relief this is going to bring so many skateboarders, harboring their own lifestyles from the sensitive ears of the homophobic world. Like women finally being respected in skateboarding, it is now time for skateboarding to accept homosexual skaters as well on a much larger scale than it has. I can only hope to channel Brian's courage in my own life with anything I go through or wish to pursue. If you have a problem with Brian (or anyone) being gay--get over it. We're black, we're white, we're brown, we're straight, we're gay, we're HUMAN. ALL of us. Let's act like it and continue to embrace each other for who we are--people.
Thank you, Brian Anderson and thank you skateboarding. To all my fellow skaters, let's continue to show the world how positive skateboarding at heart truly is.
#riseandride

Stay Grindin', BLUE731.