How many openly gay bodybuilders or physique artists compete in shows or draw large social media followings?

Of course. There are at least nine time more straight and biish ones than there are openly gay ones

I think the numbers mirror society at large. But alot of "gay for pay" bodybuilders out there that need to fund their food intake, monthly roid bill, and living expenses. That number is always fluid.

Eric Turner and his husband.

Pic?

Rogan Richards, the gay porn actor, like 2 months ago won a bodybuilding contest and he uploaded the video when he won on youtube.

I don't know if we could interpret that as a little sign of homophobia going away in bodybuilding...

This is the video of the competition he won. It was actually like 3 months ago and I'm pretty sure everybody knows he is a gay man who does gay porn.

The moustache doesn't help much though.

Bob Paris!!!

Randy Canche, though I don't know if he actively competes right now.

I'm not sure, but apparently he is gay.

He has uploaded a few vids of him and other bodybuilders to YT and they look very inviting. They're not explicit in any way, but you know, you can literally smell that they are recorded with this intetion to attract gay guys.

Bodybuilding ruins your face, gives the aids look unfortunately. Especially people without high cheekbones, they look tragic

Actually, bodybuilding improves your face. It makes your features more masculine and all that stuff because muscles are supposed to make you look more desirable.

It's the competition look that makes the face look not as appealing because of the lack of body fat, but the everyday bodybuilding look makes you more appealing.

Another one. Building a fanbase on YT

Not a pro but Steve Naidovski

I guess Peter Le also counts even though he doesn't compete in traditional bodybuilding, but all those Men's Physique things are all bodybuilding in the end.

R14 Is Peter even openly gay? I know he run's a gay porn site but he seems questionable at best.

I assume he's either gay or bisexual. He's too into gay stuff so as not to be one. R15

He doesn't identify as gay

He seems to know where the money is, I wouldn't even classify him as gay for pay either since he only does jackoff videos.

Mike Ergas - IFBB Pro!

Whatever Peter Le's sexual orientation may be. I'm almost 100% sure he isn't hetero.

There's an interview with him in a magazine where he tells that he is trying to erradicate the sterotype about Asian men being passive and not hot.

R20, I have heard many heterosexual Asian dudes say the same

By chance found this. He dedicates a parragraph to the homoerotic nature of bodybuilding being gay himself and his gaydar.

I think it's best for gay bodybuilders to blend in and not try to call attention to their gayness. Just be a bodybuilder who happens to like dudes, no special treatment or attention. The goal should be to fit in and blend in with all other bodybuilders, not to stick out like a special category of builders

While that's true, they should be allowed to be themselves and open about their sexuality outside of competitions.

The competitionare very sexual to be honest and I amnot talking about the homoeroticism that you usually see; I'm talking out those moments when a female and male bodybuilderpose together and those performances are always sensual and sometimes very sexual.

If they have the right to go all explicitly erotic in aneterosexual way then gay bodybuilder have the right to do the same.

Rafa Martin. I think that's his name. A Spanish bodybuider/Fitness model

The more openly gay and bisexual bodybuilders compete the more pressure and criticism is directed at bodybuilding for its homophobia which is a total oxymoron given the origin and nature of the "sport".

It's obvious that there are lots of gay and bisexual bodybuilders. Gay and bisexual men have more motivations to want to be muscular than hetero men because most eyes are males andmen find muscles more appealing than women which is in direct connection with their sexual orientation as opposed to hetero men who will find a dramatic lack of female eyes on them given that, apparently, most women don't find muscularity that hot/sexy if you compare the, to gay and bisexual men.

But bodybuilding is all about lies and pretending you are heterosexual is still demanded in oder to have a chance to win a very subjective competition.

Arad Win competes:

Even a kid could easily sense the homoerotic vibe in a bodybuilding competition.

Nonporn dudes please

R29, maybe it's suppression, but a lot of my straight dudes who are into bodybuilding and fitness seem sincerely unaware of any homoerotic content in bodybuilding. Yeah, they compliments dudes with "solid, "boss," "bangin," "Alpha," "diesel," "blazin, even "hot" physiques, but it's all done in a very cool Dudebro manner.

Fffffff

Or they might prefer to stay silent about how homoerotic the whole thing is because that way they can protect they heterosexuality much better. R31

All those terms carry an attached sexual menaing. It is not a compliment for the mere sake of size but for what that size convey: stamina: strength, manliness, all secondary sex traits in men that everybody understand as sexually appealing.

We might not feel attracted to women but we are capable of understanding when a woman is dressing or behaving in a way that calls for sexual attention.

If one day I see lots of gay men obsessed with female bodybuilding and female fitness models and discussing fervently which woman has the best body and where she will compete next I think the assumption that there are more gay and bi bodybuilders and fans than we are told has solid ground. What would drive hetero men to obsess over the muscular male body that is exhibited almost naked? It doens't make much sense.

Maybe, but don't sense they are trying to suppress that type of desire

That would be sublimating rather than suppressing. It is not a mystery that bodybuilding allows men with same-sex desire explore an interest in men without feeling too guilty or sinful given that it can be disguised as an interst in a "sport".

I'm sure this describes a lot of repressed gay teens of past decades. Back when homosexuality was much of a taboo they would buy bodybuilding magazines an they would be their playboy. Those mags allowed them to see and fantasises with the male body while making others believe it was an interest in a sport.

I'm not saying there aren't heterosexual men in bodybuilding; I'm saying it is natural that the vast majority of them don't feel attracted to it the same way gay men don't feel attracted to female bodybuilding. If you see it, there isn't a counterpart where gay men fill the halls of female bodybuilding competitions.

This guys an openly gay amateur bodybuilder

With another amateur gay bodybuilder

Hmmmm

He's gay and does porn, right?

Yeah he does porn or did anyway, he was doing bareback before he retired.

I see, I found him on Tumblr by chance and even though I have never seen any of his videos I recongised his face.

His name is Samuel Colt.

Samuel Colt his real name or stage name? or both?

There's a gay studio called Colt, right?

I have a Black friend who has won a few bodybuilding competitions. He looks great. He has a very blue collar job and usually little extra income. Yet every couple of months he suddenly decides to "go away for a weekend" to some random place like LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, last fall to NYC. Sometimes the weekends last a week. I've asked him point-blank if these are hustler weekends, and he just laughed nervously and said "No, I'm just going to see my cousins - you're crazy talking like that!" He has cousins everywhere it seems.

Was it really necessary to mention he was black R44?

Why not R45? I like descriptive terms. I hate it when these stories have no color. At least I didn't say my friend looks like Chicken George.

Mike Ergas is openly gay, yes?

heh r37 I tipped the "other" bodybuilder in Raleigh last weekend.

Shut up r46

Someone here needs to put out a list of hottest current competitive bodybuilders.

But you see, R49, my black friend just returned to our city after moving away to another city 2000 miles away for about 6 weeks. It happened suddenly.

My black friend, Chicken George, is a regionally awarded competitive bodybuilder, very handsome, very nice guy. We've been friends for several years. So he disappears on these trips, except this time he moved and then returned. He said he was staying temporarily with his "cousin" (there are always cuz'es coming and going in my friend's life), but he decided to return to his previous city because of some vaguely described problems over getting an apartment in his new town; and more significantly, I could tell because my friend became more serious, and his speech more declarative, he said "cuz" had a drinking problem and was impossible to get along with.

I suspect "cuz" was a sudden boyfriend. I think my friend lezzed out with this dude halfway across the country and moved in maybe even without actually meeting first. The only other person I know who did something like this once was a lesbian. It's their UHaul fate. I wonder if my friend likes Tracy Chapman.

So anyway my friend is back and coming over for coffee tomorrow and I might rib him some about this.

I think it is nice that this topic is being finally brought up in 2016.

It's the irony that the bodybuilding industry shows a very homophobic face to the world but the very origin of bodybuilding is gay from head to toe and let alone how homoerotic things get in the gym and on stage. Sometimes bodybuilders love to dress like Spartan soldiers, another link to same-sex attraction there.

If anything, the people who run bodybuilding should have gay men in great esteem because they are profitting from a homosexual concept.

Hmmm

What's with some posters always typing these hmmm, bump, www things?

To give you an exact number is kind of difficult, but there is no doubt, even in bodybuilding circles, that there are many gay and bisexual bodybuilders than it is generally admitted.

There are quite a few who are out and open. Rogan Richards, the gay porn actor won a bodybuilding competition either last year or by the end of 2015. I know a few other who are gay and bisexual and competing and they are known in the scene. But it seems to be many still prefer to stay in the closet or at least not draw attention to their sexual orientation because some judges and bodybuilding organizations still show some degree of homophobia and they fear that could affect their placings.

Homophobia in bodybuilding has alot to do with them trying to dissociate muscles form homosexuality,something they see as a stigma and homophobic bodybuilding fans strengthen this position so eventually, some judges and bbing organization will favour a heterosexual bodybuilder over a gay one even if most agree the gay bodybuilder looks better. Ironically, bodybuilding is founded on a homosexual ideal of male beauty. It'sno secret to anybody that gays are know for liking and appreciating muscualroty much more than any other group of people.

With cases like that or Rogan Richards and others I have observed, it seems to be that situation is starting to change slowly.

When I was in the closet but looking for experiences with men I had one with a huge bodybuilder then met other gay men who do bodybuilding. I still keep coming across gay men who love bodybuilding and the gym is their second home. It shouldn't be a surprise to anybody given that our main object of attraction is the male body so coupled with the fact that men usually show more interest in physical activities gay men have the extra motivation that they can enjoy the male body by engaging in the "sport".

"I think it's best for gay bodybuilders to blend in and not try to call attention to their gayness. Just be a bodybuilder who happens to like dudes, no special treatment or attention. The goal should be to fit in and blend in with all other bodybuilders, not to stick out like a special category of builders"

That is some said closet case shit.

Why does it have to be non-porn dudes, r30?

Usually, bodybuiding competitions hold previous events and they tend to exalt heterosexual desire almost obscenely. One example of this are FIBO shows with highly racy heterosexual performances at times. Even if bodybuidlers are not heterosexual they must act as if they were.

Still, bodybuilding is highly contraditory given that homoeroticism is common, but it doesn't have the privilege of being praised as heterosexual lust is.

Hard to explain, I would have to write a whole essay to explain it more thoroughly, but here one video to more or less illustrate wat I said. The pressure then is to keep your homosexual locked whereas heterosexual bodybuilders can be racy and kinky all they want.

Some still group homosexuality with the dark side of things in bodybuilding.

It iS also very reductive to thonk of homosexuality as only g4p.

Hmmmm

Any that aren't porn whores?

All bodybuilders objectify their bodies and like objectification, but not all of them to the same extent.

Of course dude

They also often think of gay men as old predatory desperate men

More than the bodybuilders it is the bodybuilding fans who stigmatise gay men as predators and portray bodybuilders as innocent, pure creatures. It is usually insecure homophobic fans who are obsessed with homosexuality.

I go to competitions. Bodybuilders DONT tend to face a problem with gay dudes per se, but they definitely tend to dislike being overtly sexualized in public or around peers. Bodybuilders also tend to respect and value masculinity, and a lot of older and middle gay men would present themselves as shows in a stereotypical way that created negative reactions. Plenty of masculine bi and gay fans and competitors were accepted who meshed with the muscle bro culture

It's about how you handle yourself around bodybuilders, especially in public. Respect their boundaries

More than an altruistic (for the lack of a better word) respect for masculinity it is a fact that many bodybuilders are insecure about their masculinity and how people perceive them in this respect. Along with other factors this many times is what triggers the obsession with wanting bigger muscles and achieve an overmasculinised appearance.

Homophobia in bodybuilding has a lot to do with the anxiety of not being perceived as masculine enough by society. Some on their quest for sterotypical masculinity become defensive and aggressive while others deal with it in more peaceful ways.

Yes, studies show that guys that weighlift and bodybuilders are more likely to believe in traditional gender roles, and prioritize being perceived as masculine

Bodybuilding is a very contradictory industry given that homoeroticism is inseparable from it and something that a considerable percentage of heterosexual bodybuilders seems to like actually.

If I speculate, I would say that homoerotic admiration is also rewarding for heterosexual bodybuilders sexually, but in a different way compared to gay men. They don't desire to take men to their beds, but homoerotic admiratoin can boost their egos and reaffirm their confidence in their sexual attractiveness. It could even be a different form of male bonding for heterosexual men...

An andecdote to back up that. There is a book written by a sociologist that studied the world of bodybuilding, there he tells the story of a sad and insecure heterosexual bodybuilder who was taken by other heterosexual bodybuilder to a gay club where he posed and flexed for gay men. He gained self-esteem and confidence with that experience seeing that gay men admired and approved of his physique.

Bodybuilding has this love-hate relationship with gay men. Some seem to hate us, but others seem to enjoy the presence of gay spectators.

R65, they are hustlers - pure and simple

Not all bodybuilders hustle R71

But all body builders Love muscle

Some people (bodybuilders and non bodybuilders) usually say there is nothing sexual about bodybuilding, but, for example, you can see there is a category for couples in bodybuilding, male-female couples compete together and the routines they present are usually very sexual. But the very act of present heterosexually looking couples is imposing heterosexuality on the viewer.

A lot More bi than gay