Queer rock climbing spaces are here to give you a safe space to get a grip on climbing.
Maggie Le often felt like “the lesbian of the friend group” before she started rock climbing. Being gay was a large part of her personality within her friend circle until she found her first queer community through Houston Queer Climbers, a group that she now runs.
Le wants to help make climbing a safer space for queer people. “[The goal of Houston Queer Climbers is that] when people think of climbing they’ll be like, ‘That’s a pretty queer space.’” She added that the goal “for queer people [is] to see [climbing], and not be so afraid of it.”
Creating these queer communities can counteract this fear. Fortunately for many queer climbers, there appear to be more queer spaces in the climbing world. “You have queer climbing collectives popping up everywhere, and they’re on Instagram,” said Coyote Metztli, who runs the Arizona Queer Climbing Collective (AQCC). “That’s how most people find the AQCC.”
“There’s more queer people climbing because there’s more visibility,” he added. “More role models. Now you have more, like, ‘Oh, they’re doing it, I can do it too.’”
Metztli gave the example of increased queer—and especially trans—visibility through the winner of HBO’s show The Climb: Cat Runner, a trans participant.
Hannah Lemkowitz, project manager at Brooklyn Bouldering Project (BP), also found that more queer people are climbing since she began climbing: “As exposure to the sport grows [so does] exposure of queer communities [to climbing], as well as the understanding that we need queer spaces]. [This means the] queer presence in climbing is growing deeper and deeper.” She added, though, that she might “just [be] seeing it and experiencing it more and more.”
Climbing creates community, queer or not. It is a community-based sport, so it can create queer spaces more easily. Le described how “there’s a partnership with rope climbing” and Cherry Dominguez, youth instructor facilitator and operations specialist at BP, added, “When [they] climb alone, [they] usually have conversations with other people [that they] meet….Someone will just be like, ‘Oh my God, I like your shirt,’ and that just sparks a conversation.”
Dominguez only started climbing in January, but unlike more experienced climbers, she finds the sport to be undeniably queer. “[In] most climbing gyms, you’ll see there’s a lot of queer representation,” they said. “Whether it’s through the people, the members, the workers…you just see [pride] flags everywhere.”
Lemkowitz, however, did not see climbing as inherently queer. She’s had negative experiences with climbing, like being told by a male climber that she should “really work on [her] strength” after she fell on a difficult climb.
Metztli agreed that it can be difficult for queer people to find their space within a climbing gym. “You really need a safe space and somebody to encourage you,” he said. “Because you can have your cis-hetero friend inviting you with 10 of their cis-hetero buddies, and you just don’t feel comfortable being in that space. Even if they’re nice people, you might not feel at ease not having anybody like you around.”
Metztli also found this attitude when he first started climbing, noting that climbing has historically “been dominated by not just cis-white men, but cis-white people.” However, his organization is working to make climbing more accessible to queer people by increasing economic accessibility, because “climbing’s not cheap.” Now climbing is “becoming more and more inclusive to other groups…because we’re starting to break down these boundaries of financial accessibility, of gear, of knowledge. It’s incredible. Now you have a lot of groups coming together.”
As the groups come together, so does the climbing community. “Even getting
on the wall or deciding to step into the gym is very bold for anyone to do because it is very intimidating,” said Dominguez. “[Climbing is a supportive space] because climbing isn’t easy.”
Top Image: The Bouldering Project
Images Via: The Bouldering Project, The Queer Climbers/Maggie Le, Cherry Dominguez
