Netflix's new documentary, 'Keep On Board: The Leo Baker Story,' is all in regards to the transgender skateboarder who give up the Olympics. Get to know extra about Leo right here.
Aggressive skateboarder Leo Baker, 30, is the topic of the brand new Netflix documentary, Keep On Board: The Leo Baker Story. Directed by Nicola Marsh and Giovanni Reddi, the documentary follows Leo, who's transgender, within the lead as much as the 2020 Olympics, when all the things modified in his life. Leo tells his courageous and empowering story within the doc, which additionally options interviews with Leo’s associate, mom, pals, and fellow skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Keep On Board: The Leo Baker Story premieres August 11 on Netflix and will probably be eye-opening for thus many individuals that watch.
So, who's Leo Baker? HollywoodLife has rounded up 5 key issues to know in regards to the professional skateboarder beneath.
Leo began skateboarding at a really younger age.
Leo, who was born feminine with the identify Lacey Baker, obtained into skateboarding when he was round two or three years previous. He mentioned in an interview with Time, “For a quick interval I used to be in foster care, and my two foster brothers had a mini ramp of their yard. I’d stand on the market and watch them skate. I obtained a board shortly thereafter and have been skating ever since.”
Leo realized he was transgender at 19 years previous.
Because the years went on, and Leo grew to become an enormous pressure within the skateboarding world, he started to query his gender identification. At 19 years previous, he realized he was transgender, thought he didn’t transition for one more ten years. “It was two totally different worlds, and for a decade, my life was splintered as I used to be attempting to determine what I used to be doing,” he informed Time. Leo recognized as non-binary and used they/them pronouns for a while. He now makes use of he/him pronouns.
Leo give up the Olympics.
Leo was a member of the U.S. Ladies’s Olympic Skateboarding Staff heading into the 2020 Summer time Olympics, which have been delayed by one yr because of the pandemic. In February 2020, Leo give up the staff and formally modified his identify to start transitioning. “It was an enormous concern that I used to be going to lose all the things that I’ve labored actually my complete life for,” Leo recalled of his life-changing choice within the Time interview. “It’s a scary factor to embark on, although in my circle of household and shut pals, everybody has all the time been supportive.”
Additionally within the interview, Leo defined that he “doesn’t establish” with any gender. “All of it feels so overseas. I’m not a lady, and for those who take the ‘customary’ definition of what a person is, I’m undoubtedly not that,” he mentioned. “I’m floating round in house someplace between the 2.”
Leo has a queer skateboarding firm.
Since transitioning, Leo helped create the queer skateboarding firm Glue with Steve Ostrowski. The corporate will probably be highlighted within the Netflix documentary. Leo gushed over Glue in an interview with Them.com. “I really like the corporate a lot. Steve and I are having a very nice time with it and doing graphics and simply having the general purpose of making sources for skaters like us, who're simply distinctive and dope however don’t match these conventional molds.”
Leo has excessive hopes for the Netflix doc.
Leo is absolutely placing his complete life on the market for the world to see. However he’s pleased with the documentary and hopes that the foremost takeaway for viewers is to “take heed to the youngsters” once they’re going by one thing at a younger age. “The youngsters know what they need. Allow them to be,” he informed Time.