Yes, fuck that guy.
Surfing attracts a pretty juvenile crowd. Most action sports do, for that matter. That’s not to say that all surfers are juvenile, but I’d wager that there are more 40-year-olds with 15-year-old mentalities in surfing than most other sports. Which probably explains why a big part of our silly, amazing little culture still involves homophobia and sexism. The fact that we’re even talking about it is kind of ridiculous. But both sexism and homophobia exist in surfing, and it’s stupid. A foundation called Athlete Ally seeks to expose how stupid it really is, and Taylor Knox is helping.
I’m just going to come out and say something: If you don’t like gay people because they’re gay, you’re stupid. Feel free to dislike a gay person because you don’t get along with them, but if you write them off simply because they’re gay, then take a good look in the mirror and sort your life out.
A few months ago, when pro skier Gus Kenworthy announced he was gay, it was big news. The fact that it was news was weird, because it really shouldn’t have mattered to anyone. Kenworthy is one of the best skiers in the world, and being gay doesn’t have any bearing on that whatsoever. Nor should it have any bearing on anyone’s feelings about him, because it doesn’t affect anyone but him. It was news because it’s rare for someone in action sports to come out as gay–and it’s just as rare for a straight action sports athlete to take a public stand against homophobia. So Taylor Knox, if you’re reading this: well played, my friend.
Athlete Ally was started by a guy named Hudson Taylor, who, incidentally, is straight. “As an athlete in high school and college,” the website reads, “Hudson Taylor often observed the use of homophobic language and demeaning humor, especially in sports. Soon after enrolling at the University of Maryland, he befriended LGBT students in his theatre classes and became increasingly aware of the pain caused by homophobic behavior.”
Hudson decided he needed to “confront the reality sports often marginalize LGBT athletes, coaches and others through systemic homophobia and transphobia.” Which, of course, he did.
Taylor Knox recently attended an Athlete Ally/POLO Ralph Lauren event in San Diego to show his support. “Great night supporting the effort to end homophobia in sports,” he wrote on Instagram.
Taylor Knox, doing something necessary that shouldn’t even be necessary.
How homophobia hasn’t already ended in sports is beyond me. While I understand the need for organizations like Athlete Ally and events like the one they put on, I can’t understand why they are necessary.
Here’s a short anecdote that’s relevant, although a little outside the scope of surfing. As this is an American website, there are a lot of you that haven’t followed the recent Canadian election that saw now ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper (aka the Devil) voted out and Justin Trudeau voted in. It was, I assure you, the greatest thing to happen to Canada in a long, long time. After Trudeau appointed a cabinet made up of just as many women as men, he was asked why he did it. His response, while having nothing to do with gay people, is transferable. He looked at the reporter who asked the question, slightly baffled. “Because,” he answered, “it’s 2015.”
Although he didn’t drop the mic at that point, he summed up something true about both gender equality and the marginalization of LBGT athletes: it’s 2015. If you don’t like gay people, get over it… because you’re helping create a world that no one wants to live in.
