Stay On Board: The Leo Baker Story – A must-see queer production

Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story is must-see television. Released on Netflix on August 11, 2022, it’s the story of a world class American skateboarder and their journey through gender transition. 

When Leo burst into the world of skateboarding, they were going by the name Lacey, and was known to everyone as she/her. This incredibly important and powerful film documents the struggles of living inside a body you don’t feel like you belong in, and navigating the external barriers the world creates for people who experience this. 

At first, this looks like a skateboarding documentary, but that’s not really it at all. Skateboarding serves as the backdrop for Leo’s journey, but it’s really about the human and emotional journey trans people go through. And as Leo says in his story, his journey is just one example of what transgender looks like. There are many, many trans stories, and they’re all different from each other. 

The trans community globally is dealing with a lot right now, but especially in the United States. Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story couldn’t have come at a more needed time. While Leo’s story is just one story, it’s a narrative that the world desperately needs to hear. 

At the beginning of the documentary, it’s announced that skateboarding has been added to the official lineup of Olympic sports at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for both male and female skaters for the first time. The skateboarding community is buzzing with anticipation as the best riders in the country all make a play for a spot on the United States Olympic team. 

In public and competition spaces within the skateboarding world, Leo is still going by Lee and is still competing as a girl. In private though, Leo is using his chosen pronouns and his chosen name. Leo’s entire career, up to this point, was built by images that companies and the skateboarding industry pushed upon him in order to create this brand encompassing the best female skater in the game. 

But at this stage in Leo’s life, that just isn’t working for him anymore. Continuing to live as a female in public spaces is causing Leo all kinds of emotional trauma. Leo talks about his intense body dysphoria, and how his skin crawls so much that he feels it all the time. He talks about wanting to die – the pain is so bad at times.

The Olympics is a massive point of contention for Leo. People tell him it’s just another year, but Leo says candidly in Stay on Board, that “in a year there might not be a Leo left.” While they’re on that team, they will always be Lacey Baker, and Leo reaches breaking point. Leo makes the decision to back out of the Olympics and give up his place on the United States team.

The Olympics, and the skateboarding competition world, is, as described in Stay On Board, a world of gender binaries. The expectations and limitations those binaries impose on Leo’s psyche become too much and thus he makes the incredibly difficult decision to quit the United States Olympic team. If he moved forward with the team, he would have to put off his transition until the competition was over, and even then, there was no guarantee that he would be accepted back into the fold. 

Watching this was heartbreaking, and y’all we cried ugly tears at the injustice. Why does the world make it so difficult for trans people to do the things they love? Why is it that so often, trans people are forced to choose between themselves and the spaces they wish to occupy? 

While we were clearly heartbroken over his decision, For Leo this was the best possible choice. He is able to move forward with his transition and the elation that he feels once the burden of competing as a girl is lifted bleeds through the screen. 

Here is why Stay on Board is so important. Leo’s journey make the political obstacles that the transgender community is facing in the United States (and around the world) seem nonsensical. When the documentary begins, Leo is clearly unhappy. Unhappy in his head, and unhappy in his body. Why would anyone want to prevent someone from making the necessary changes to rectify that for themselves?

When people are overweight and unhappy in their own bodies, we support them and give them love and guidance so they can lose weight and be happy again in their bodies. When people suffer mental distress because of the limitations and obstacles life places on them, the world encourages them to seek professional help to alleviate their mental pain. 

Then why is this any different for Leo, or any other trans person, for that matter? 

It’s really hard to watch Leo struggle so much in this documentary. Ultimately, all he wants is to be able to love himself and be loved by others. It’s the same human condition everyone seeks. 

The documentary follows Leo through his surgery and transition and we get to see him come out the other side of his battle in a much better place. He may not be competing in skateboarding anymore, but he is doing things he loves, seeking a community where he feels safe and loved, and he is living an authentic life as a man. 

When Leo comes out of surgery, he is making jokes and singing Lady Gaga at the top of his lungs. And fam, the joy is absolutely radiating off of him. Tears of happiness flooded the Q+ Magazine office when Leo gets into the car after being released from hospital. His aura has changed, his heaviness gone. The fog has lifted for him and peace has clearly settled into his heart. How could anyone not want that for another human? 

For anyone struggling to understand the transgender struggle, for anyone who has ever loved a trans person, for anyone who wants to understand the human condition better: watch Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story. It is profound, it is important. It will make you cry, but mostly, we hope it opens your eyes and your heart. 

Trans lives are human lives, and at the heart of Leo’s story is this idea that we’re all trying to find our way in this world. Everyone deserves dignity, respect, and peace, and transgender folks are no different.

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 Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story is available to stream on Netflix. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!