HOMOPHOBIA

November 22, 2008 @ 12:41 AM - Brian

It’s a bit of my own fault for being on the Internet so much this week. But it did get cold this week, so I’m passing some of the time I spent riding during the warm months actually watching BMX-related videos. And what I’ve found is that homophobia is rampant in BMX. Which is weird, considering that through most of the ‘90s, BMXers could joke comfortably about homosexuality. Hell, the entire series of Baco videos were loosely based around homosexuality, (including Baco 7 Pride, who’s cover was a gay pride flag.) But that was a different time I suppose, one fostered on sketch comedy from The Kids in The Hall, music by Right Said Fred and cartoons from the Ambiguously Gay Duo.

Times, I assume, have changed. And BMXers are, more or less as a whole, terrified of anything that might come close to homosexuality. So I’m curious about this regression. When did it happen, and why? Is it all down to that dumbass “No homo” mantra? 

I guess my gripes started this past week with a Cory Nastazio interview on Defgrip. I couldn’t even make it through the interview, but it’s pretty clear that he’s got a raging case of homophobia. But I’m not gonna take any all too easy low blows at him. I won’t even recount the number of times I’ve seen him take his shirt off to simply hug other men when he’s done with a run at a dirt comp. He can have his reasons on whom he chooses to like and dislike, he should just keep it himself, or perhaps take it upon himself to maybe understand lifestyles different from his own. He’s only shooting himself in the foot by being so close-minded to the one demographic that would totally catapult his reality TV ratings through the roof.

Next up was a Vital video, featuring Glenn PP Milligan, which basically rehashed Cory’s sentiments, and dished on some more fuel to the fire. I think this instance was aimed to be more comedic than the original Defgrip interview, but with Vital videos being such an easily attainable find through searches on Google, the Vital video (dubbed The Big Big BMX Show) could become a really poor outwards representation of BMX to the rest of the world. In fact, if you Google ‘BMX, Vital comes up near the top. So if you have no clue about BMX but decide that this is the week to do some research on an underground sport that’s made it all the way to the Olympics, and by chance happen to click onto Vital, the first video you’ll see features a segment of borderline hatred based on sexual orientation and marketed to predominantly teen-age boys.

Now let’s think about the bigger picture here. BMX could be a lot bigger than it already is throughout the world. Do we really need any messages of hatred attached to a movement that has already become an all-encompassing culture consisting of people from different ages, races, sexes, nationalities and yes, possibly even sexual orientations?

Hell no.

So here’s my two cents on the subject. You don’t need to become a homosexual. You don’t even need to hang out with homosexuals. You just need to understand that homosexuals are also people deserving of respect just like you and me. Confront whatever you’re afraid of and learn to accept differences. Hell, you can apply that thought process to anything in the world, not just homophobia…