In Search of Gay Surfers

Though no openly
gay male surfers compete on the professional tour,
several out lesbians do, including former world champion
Lynne Boyer. Gay gals who surf are also the focus of
the Logo reality show Curl Girls. All of which makes
one wonder, Is there such a thing as a "curl
guy," and if so, where is he? "I know
they’re in the water," says L.A.-based Curl
Girls star Michelle Fleury. "I look for them, but
I haven’t spotted or spoken with anyone admitting to
being gay."

Maybe they're in
San Francisco, a gay mecca where the surfing scene has
exploded over the last decade. "If there was going to be a
place where there would be openly gay surfers, this
would be it," says Matt Warshaw, the San
Francisco–based author of The Encyclopedia
of Surfing, "but you just don't see it." Warshaw
is straight, but he's been writing about demographic trends
in surfing for years and the ongoing invisibility of
gay men confounds him. "I’m baffled as to
whether it’s a sport that has happily or unhappily
closeted surfers," he admits, "or if it's so staunchly
hetero that it's like a force-field to keep gays out."

If the latter is
true, it's for good reason. Despite its easygoing,
enlightened vibe, surfing has a long history of homophobia.
When a 1988 magazine article implied that Aussie surf
star Cheyne Horan was gay, he lost endorsement deals
and friends. A decade later, former top-5 pro Robbins
Thompson left the sport in disgust after his sexuality
became known and he started hearing taunts in the
water and having the word "fag" painted on his car. In
1996, teen surfer Shane Dorian listed "dykes and fags"
along with "diseases, the Devil, and flat spells" as
things he'd like to rid the world of in Surfer
magazine. And just last year, when a statue of a
surfer went up in Cardiff near San Diego, surfers criticized
it for not looking butch enough and dubbed it "Fairy Mary."
So what's the deal?

"The gay guys I
know who surf tend to try and keep their sexuality and
their surfing separate," says Leslie Smith, a part-time surf
enthusiast who works for a nonprofit organization in
Manhattan. "They’re not closeted, but
they’re not going to necessarily wear freedom
rings on the beach." Smith adds that he has encountered
homophobia on the beach, but like most surf-related
altercations, it was all about turf. "I pulled up to
this little cove in Hawaii a couple years ago," he
recalls, "and a couple of a guys came over like, 'What
are you doing here? Locals only.' They started calling me
gay and making effeminate gestures and it became clear
that I was going to leave or I was going to get
beaten."