Elvis Stojko Does Not Get to Tell Gay People to Not Be Offended

Nice jazz hands

If there’s one thing that’s true about figure skating, it’s that the skaters are constantly one-upping the difficulty level – doubles became triples, then combos, then quads. So when it comes to whining about how “feminine” the sport has become, why should that be any different?

In one of the more hilarious commentaries I’ve read on figure skating in the Winter Olympics, the irony-proficient Salon.com decided to speak to Elvis Stojko, the Canadian skater who was last a big deal when he became the first skater to land a quad-triple combination jump in competition in 1997. He also became the poster boy for more athletic, less artistic type of skater.

So what did he think of the Olympic battle between the more “masculine” Evan Lysacek and the more flamboyant Johnny Weir? Needs more butch.  Of Lysacek being the heir to his style, he says:

I don't think so. I think he is more masculine than Weir, but there is a power and rawness and organic-ness to his skating that's missing. At the beginning of his career, it was there. If you try to refine something too much, you lose its organic essence, and you refine and refine, and it becomes boring.

He does choose his words carefully when talking about Weir though. Stojko was loved by the press, and it wasn’t just because of the tight tank tops he favored.

Johnny is one of these skaters who is obviously unique. He has his own sense of style, and doesn’t care what anybody thinks, and he's not always trying to impress. He's like, "I don’t care if you like it or not, just watch me." He’s not my style of skating, but he’s a talented skater — otherwise he wouldn’t have been on the podium at world’s.

It's hard to argue with his  talent.

But Weir's not on the podium at the Winter Olympics, despite skating what announcers called the program of his life. That honor went to the masculine Lysacek, Plushenko with his quad jump, and a guy who fell down. Left out were the more artistic skaters like Weir, who stayed upright. Might Stojko's opinions reflect a bias against effeminate skaters by the judges?

And why should the masculinity or effeminacy of the skaters matter if they get the job done in the first place? Like anyone on this kind of crusade, it’s all about the children. According to some, there just aren’t as many young boys interested in becoming figure skaters these days, and Stojko thinks it’s because the sport is too effeminate.

As for the gays, who might be offended by that notion, since in Western culture effeminate is generally code for “gay?" Says Stojko:

People in the gay community have to realize they’ve got to take themselves out of it. It's not against anybody. I've been getting heat for this, but there are people behind me saying that they appreciate it. It's about what people can identify with when they're watching the sport. It doesn’t have anything to do with gayness. Effeminate men can identify with effeminate skating. Masculine men can't identify with that. When I watch it, I can't identify because I don't move like that. My consciousness doesn't feel like that.

Why aren’t more young men skating? Could it be less television coverage, fewer ice rinks, and simply more choices as to how young men spend their time? No – according it Stojko it’s because the sport has gotten too fey, even as every skater has learned the big jumps that he says made him so “butch.”

Weir at least makes it look like fun.

Here is another notion, Elvis. Maybe rather than changing skating, we need to change people's belief that masculine is better than feminine, or that someone can't be both at the same time, or that there isn't room in skating for each.

And one more thing: To steal a line from my boss, I love it when a straight guy tells gay people what to do when faced with bigotry.

For the record, Elvis, straight people do not get to tell gay people they need to stop being so sensitive. Straight people get to tell other straight people to stop dressing their bigotry up as looking out for the sport/children/cause-they’re-promoting.