Tyler Wright is at the center of the recent WSL criticism. Photo: WSL
The release of the 2025 WSL Championship Tour schedule contained a polarizing element: Surf Abu Dhabi. The new wave pool has become a magnet for controversy in the surfing world, the latest of which has centered around Abu Dhabi’s policies concerning LGBTQIA+ rights, and how they affect surfing’s openly queer athletes.
Located on Hudayriat Island, the recently opened Surf Abu Dhabi is the world’s largest wave pool. Not only that, but the 700 by 150-meter facility claims the ability to produce the world’s longest ride, largest barrel, and tallest man-made wave. In August, it was added as the third stop on the WSL’s Longboard Tour, the first time the league had chosen to hold an event in a man-made wave other than the Surf Ranch in Lemoore, California. In October, the facility was announced to be the second stop on the 2025 Championship Tour schedule.
However, the announcement was met with swift criticism on multiple fronts. The first was simply because adding wave pools to the CT has never been popular amongst traditionalists. However, a much more significant line of critique soon overshadowed that, regarding the host country’s policies regarding the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly how it would affect Tyler Wright, the two-time world champion who is currently the sole openly queer surfer on the tour.
View this post on Instagram
“Two days ago [the WSL] released its 2025 tour schedule. Unfortunately, homosexuality is illegal at one of the locations and my wife can legally be sentenced to death or imprisonment if she tries to attend,” wrote Wright’s wife Lilli on Instagram. “Tyler has competed on this tour for over 14 years and has had the pride flag on her jersey since 2020. Even after winning two world titles, she is still not valued enough by the WSL to be considered when they sold this event. WSL have the duty of care to their athletes to not put them in potentially life threatening circumstances like this.”
Lilli also headed off the potential response that Tyler could simply skip the Abu Dhabi leg of the tour, adding, “I see how hard my wife works every day on her career and it’s unreasonable to expect her to just not go. Her life is worth more than one event but I can’t not acknowledge missing this event would put her career at a huge disadvantage over the next three years that this location will be used.” She also added that Wright should not even have to make the decision in the first place, saying, “Tyler’s queerness should not have to be a burden or an obstacle in her workplace.”
Finally, Lilli also made it clear that the criticism of Abu Dhabi was not an invitation to engage in racism. “It’s important for me to add that I’m aware of my privilege as a white woman and am not here to promote racism or to tell people from a different country with different values how to run their own legal system,” she wrote. “I do however believe it is a conversation where there is a country such as this that is putting a lot of money into being an international destination for professional sporting competitions especially when they have such strict laws on the LGBTQIA+ community. At the end of the day, WSL had absolutely no business selling this event to this location expecting their only openly queer athlete to go along quietly.”
View this post on Instagram
Keala Kennelly, the big wave surfing pioneer and fellow openly gay surfer, echoed the sentiment in her own Instagram post. In addition to agreeing that “The WSL should be putting the health, safety and wellbeing of their athletes over $$$,” she also added a historical context. “The athletes should boycott the event like they did in South Africa when Sunny Garcia couldn’t compete because at the time black people were not allowed on the beach.”
“Hosting events in countries that have blatant human rights violations should be unacceptable.”
