It’s like music, or any other art form.Īfter you came out, something that really surprised me was how your fellow skateboarders-and they were trying to be supportive-touted your manliness, and how “badass” you are, as if someone’s sexual identity is somehow related to those things. Being from California, there’s a lot of different kind of skaters: There are some that are way more serious, skating perfectly-I don’t want to call it robotic-then there are other skaters who are super loose, and sweaty, and they don’t care if their shoes are dirty. Let no one take that from us.’ ”įor both a sport and lifestyle that is nominally rooted in irreverence and in an expression of individuality, I’ve always been surprised at how conformist skateboarding’s participants behave: You see so much similar dress, speech, music.There are a lot of people who have the same style and expression and words and music choices, but there are other characters. “And then I wrote as a caption, ‘Freedom of expression is beautiful thing. “The suit, I believe it’s a Calvin Klein, with a Thomas Pink tie,” he says.
Photographed by Christian Trippe and designed by Luke Williams, the photo-heavy book serves as somewhat of a monograph for Anderson’s lifestyle, as well as a true departure for any skateboard publication, with Anderson depicted in everything from leather harnesses (his own) to a business-looking suit. To that end, on Saturday, June 24, he will publish Cave Homo, an entirely new kind of skate zine.
BRIAN GAY TWITTER PROFESSIONAL
While Anderson has been out to his family since he was 25, his public revelation-after which he says his sponsors, which include Nike, as well as his colleagues embraced him-has meant that his voice has taken on new importance in both professional sports and the lifestyle that is skateboarding. Anderson was by far the most prominent, and his openness has created new dialogues in a sport where homosexuality was mostly unheard of, and often derided. While not the first professional skateboarder to come out, Mr. Last fall he starred in Vice Sports’s video, in which the 6-foot-3 burly boarder came out as gay and set that world ablaze.
“There’s been a bunch of those messages.” Anderson is preparing for Go Skateboarding Day, an annual holiday wherein fans of the sport are encouraged to go out and skate, which fell on June 21 this year, and he’s talking to me from his kitchen in Jackson Heights, Queens, drinking green tea while his husband snores in bed nearby.
BRIAN GAY TWITTER PRO
“I’ve heard stories where people tell me, ‘My niece came out because she saw your story,’ ” says pro skateboarder Brian Anderson.