Queer & Ladies’ Skate Night at Four Seasons Skate Park Creates a Safe Space for Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ Community
A skate park is supposed to be a safe space for skateboarders.
It’s a place to learn tricks and test boundaries. It’s a spot to make friends and meet up.
Between the beginners and veterans, and the lands and slams, the skate park is a vital piece to a flourishing skate community. But, that only applies if everybody is included.
P and and their homie Grey showing off their rides at the National DIY. (Photo courtesy P)
P is a Queer trans masculine skateboarder. They are non-binary, and are a masculine-presenting person with feminine features.
They said riding local parks were far from the ‘normal experience.’ Fellow skaters yelling slurs or making jokes made the park extremely uncomfortable.
“Skateboarding puts you at an unsafe risk. Clearly, there’s the physical risk, but there are also the mental risks. So, at the skate park, where you should feel safe to be a skater, not feeling safe to be yourself is f****d up,” P said.
After attending several ladies’ night sessions at Four Seasons Skate Park, there was still a void.
“I’m Queer. So, when I came to all these ladies’ nights, I didn’t really have a place. Once I had Queer friends, I realized they needed to have a place too. If all these ladies felt displaced in the cis male dominated skate scene, what about the queer community?” P said.
Since skateboarding’s inception in the 1950’s, it has been looked at as a pretty inclusive community. Though it may not have been fully accepted by the mainstream until the Millennium, it didn’t matter the age, race or gender.
While the skateboard community has accepted everybody, cisgender white males have dominated the industry. That’s not to say there hasn’t been amazing professional women and people of color shredding over the decades, the industry had to catch up. The same has gone for skateboarding and the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2016, there was a monumental shift when Brian Anderson, Thrasher Magazine’s 1999 Skateboarder of the Year, came out as Gay at 40-years-old. It was a total 180 from Tim Von Werne’s experience in 1998, when he lost his sponsorships after coming out as Gay.
Cher Strauberry and Jeff Grosso talk about the Queer skateboard community in the “Love Letters to LGBTQ+.” (Photo courtesy Vans Skateboarding)
Another major impact was legendary skateboarder, Jeff Grosso's posthumous “Loveletter To LGBTQ+” episode, released in June 2020. The well-respected “Loveletter’s to Skateboarding” series gave Queer skateboarders and LGBTQ owned brands an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings with the skateboard world.
“For him to release the episode posthumously meant a lot, to a lot of people that would never have realized we needed to hold a space for us. When the homies are at the skate park yelling ‘f****t,’ that makes us feel uncomfortable,” P said.
As more Queer inclusive sessions started pop up around the country, P brought up the idea to Four Seasons’ owner, Jeff G.
“At the end of the day, I love skateboarding and anything I can do to get more people to skateboard, I’m in for it. I’m also a dad with a 13-year-old daughter, so I can understand that this can be a pretty alpha male environment, and intimidating,” he said. “I saw it as an opportunity for skaters to network and eventually grow into having them come whenever, because they’re comfortable.”
Four Seasons hosted its first “Queer & Ladies Night” on June 26th, 2020. Since then, they have been having the sessions every third Friday of the month, within the city and state mandated COVID-19 requirements.
A local ninja adds some extra steez on a BS 50-50 during the Halloween themed Queer & Ladies’ Skate night. (Photo by Dylan Deprey)
“It’s really good to see this kind of enthusiasm and love,” said Nic Arambel, local skateboarder, during the Oct. 23 event. “I haven’t seen a better representation of fem, Queer, women skaters finding each other, and embracing each other ever.”
The Butterfly Collective co-hosted the Halloween-themed skate night.
Genie Green, Butterfly Collective co-lead, said the grassroots social outreach organization is a Black trans operated group that offers aid to Black and Brown trans people.
“They were kind enough to let us co-host this with them, and give us a donation. Sometimes we host our clothing drive here, and it’s just a safe space for trans people, gay people, asexual people—basically not cis man to skate,” Green said laughing.
During the event, Melenie Gonzalez and Sydney Brown laughed and chatted, in between taking turns cruising the bowl.
“I’ve been coming here since I was 8-years-old, but this is my first event,” Brown said. “I think it’s awesome for people who might be intimidated by the crowd that comes here, to have a safe space to skate.”
Melenie Gonzalez and Sydney Brown chat in between runs in the bowl. (Photo by Dylan Deprey)
Gonzalez said she frequently attended ladies’ nights, but over the past few months, the ladies and Queer skate community has grown as a whole.
“There’s been more people coming out to our safe space here. We started with barely any girls coming out here at all, and now that it’s open to wider community there’s more people and more woman, and it’s super empowering for everybody,” she said.
Elijah Albrecht is a local shredder. This was also their first time attending a Queer & Ladies night. After popping a boosted 360 flip in their cowboy outfit, they said the energy at the session was unlike any other.
“It’s a different level of stoke right now, everyone is happy to be here and skate together. My local park Estabrook can create a lot of pressure and competition, whereas Queer night is a celebration and encouragement for all different levels of skaters,” they said.
Elijah ‘Baby Nyjah’ Albrecht dials in a 360 flip on the hip. (Photo by Dylan Deprey)
“Although skateboarding has been historically pegged as chaotic and rebellious, the Milwaukee skate community has been supportive to a side of humanity that is normally neglected. There’s a huge amount of professional cisgender male skateboarders, but there’s a new wave of diversity that will lead to a wider level of acceptance in skateboarding and the world.”
Four Seasons will continue to host Queer & Ladies skate nights every third Friday of each month, while sticking to local and statewide COVID-19 restrictions. The park allows all-wheels, so BMX, scooters, roller skates, etc. are welcome to attend.
As for finally having a night dedicated to Queer skaters, P said, “It’s insane to skate Four Seasons filled with women and Queer people!”
As part of the Milwaukee skateboard community, I ask all my fellow cisgender male peers to educate themselves, and leave ignorance in the past. It doesn’t matter a skater’s age, gender, race, sexual orientation or ethnicity, we all want to learn tricks and stack clips. So, let’s treat each other with some love and respect.
~Dylan