BBC Sport looks at the reer of Mike Bttler, Formula 1's only known gay male driver, and his impact on today's LGBT+ motorsport muny.
Contents:
- GAY NATN’S TOP FORMULA ONE DRIVERS 2021
- F1 WOULD WELE AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER - SEBASTIAN VETTEL
- F1 WOULD WELE AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, SAYS VETTEL
- LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER
- GAY NATN’S TOP FORMULA ONE DRIVERS IN 2022
- VETTEL: A GAY FORMULA ONE DRIVER WOULD BE WELED
- ARE THERE ANY GAY F1 DRIVERS?
- OUT WRTLER AC MACK’S PRO WRTLG PURPOSE GO BEYOND TL
- A GAY F1 DRIVER WOULD BE A 'POWERFUL ROLE MOL' FOR THE SPORT, OP ASTON MART MEMBER
GAY NATN’S TOP FORMULA ONE DRIVERS 2021
Formula One would now wele s first openly gay driver, acrdg to Germany's four-time world champn Sebastian Vettel. * gay f1 drivers 2021 *
Gay Natn fans love his style and after seeg his Netflix performance this year is assured we will see lots more of that personaly at Aston Mart 2021. Several officials si racg anisatns say that spe drivers like Lewis Haton and Sebastian Vettel, both of whom have worn Pri lours at var rac this season, beg supportive alli, many queer people team garag feel more fortable stayg Bishop, Aston Mart's chief munitns officer, has worked motorsport for over 25 years, and as "the only [out] gay the F1 village" the 1990s, he has often field msag om people stgglg to e out to lleagu after years the dtry. "Richard Morris, a gay racg driver and founr of Racg Pri, scrib how a simple e of language n e some people to feel like g out is not an optn.
F1 WOULD WELE AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER - SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Formula One would now wele s first openly gay driver, acrdg to Germany's four tim world champn Sebastian Vettel. * gay f1 drivers 2021 *
Bee you're aaid that if you say you're gay, and they don't support you, then they're not gog to give you that drive or they won't treat you the same as your teammate. "So I did enunter some homophobia.
"Emmanouilis, an Atralian wh Greek herage, did not e out to her fay until after universy, but to everyone else she has always been open about beg gay.
F1 WOULD WELE AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, SAYS VETTEL
* gay f1 drivers 2021 *
"To be a woman, to be a gay woman, F1 is important to me, not jt bee I want to be accsible to others and be that visibily, but to help other people who want to be my posn.
"Y, you n be a woman a male-domated dtry, or a gay man or non-bary, transgenr, but, at the end of the day, everyone lov motorsport and I thk that's really important to foc on. "Formula 1, as an anisatn, has taken steps to addrs s lack of diversy, lnchg the We Race As One iative 2020 to raise awarens for racial equaly and discrimatn of all kds, cludg anti-gay said their statement: "It will not be a one-week or one-year theme that disappears as issu disappear om headl, will unrp the Formula 1 strategy to make a tangible difference our sport and society. Vettel and his Aston Mart team have been champng Pri across the season, wh Vettel's rabow T-shirt and attire at the Hungarian Grand Prix worn to prott the untry's anti-gay laws that were passed June.
"As a gay person, you don't jt e out one time. Sponsors, vtors, race partners, host untri, all fund the sport and toeg the le uld prove difficult on some ocsns, such as the ncerns for racg untri wh anti-gay example, Qatar, which outlaws homosexualy, announced that rabow flags would be allowed at the 2022 FIFA World Cup to rpect "the difference people's cultur, " but gay cizens still live fearful liv.
LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER
As we return to racg after the Northern Hemisphere's summer break 's time to give you Gay Natn's Hottt Formula One Drivers of 2022. * gay f1 drivers 2021 *
"The same go for fans too, says Emmanouilis: "Image how many gay people were watchg when Aston Mart had the rabow on their r, perhaps unsure about whether there was a place for them. "People have told me, 'I've jt told the other people my marshal post for the first time ever that I'm gay, and 's been great and they've been pletely acceptg and 's been wonrful', " he visibily is spreadg other ways too. "W Seri, the women-only racg seri, has three openly gay drivers, while other top-level seri like IndyCar, Formula One, Formula E, have none.
FLORION GOGA/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagRtersJun 8, 2022, 03:54 PM ETFormula One would now wele s first openly gay driver, acrdg to Germany's four-time world champn Sebastian champnship, which started 1950, has had only male drivers on the startg grid sce 1976 but has ma a ph for diversy and cln wh teams showg support for the LGBTQ Mart driver Vettel last year wore a rabow-loured T shirt Hungary wh the msage "same love" to prott anti-LGBTQ+ 34-year-old father of three has also peted wh Racg Pri logos on his r. "Perhaps wouldn't have been the se the past, but now I thk a gay Formula One driver would be weled, and rightly so, " Vettel said an terview wh LGBTQ magaze Attu that featured him on s ver.
"I feel that a gay driver would help to speed up the elimatn of prejudice and help ph our sport a better directn. "Blackpool forward Jake Daniels last month beme the first active male profsnal player English football 32 years to announce he is gay.
GAY NATN’S TOP FORMULA ONE DRIVERS IN 2022
LONDON, June 8 (Rters) - Formula One would now wele s first openly gay driver, acrdg to Germany's four tim world champn Sebastian champnship, which started 1950, has had only male drivers on the startg grid sce 1976 but has ma a ph for diversy and cln wh teams showg support for the LGBTQ Mart driver Vettel last year wore a rabow-loured T shirt Hungary wh the msage 'same love' to prott anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn. "Perhaps wouldn’t have been the se the past, but now I thk a gay Formula One driver would be weled, and rightly so, " Vettel said an terview wh LGBTQ magaze Attu that featured him on s ver. "Blackpool forward Jake Daniels last month beme the first active male profsnal player English soccer 32 years to announce he is gay.
VETTEL: A GAY FORMULA ONE DRIVER WOULD BE WELED
Bttler remas the only known gay male driver to have peted at the hight level of did so at a time when F1 was an pecially macho environment.
ARE THERE ANY GAY F1 DRIVERS?
"I knew he was gay, but didn't matter my world. "The racg world of the 2020s is a very different place to that of the Bishop, a Racg Pri ambassador and Aston Mart F1 chief munitns officer, said: "In the early 1970s, people didn't talk about beg gay.
"In the Uned Kgdom, was only 1967 that homosexualy was legalised between two nsentg adults private. Overall, he sred five top-10 fish his then the UK was plunged to fancial turmoil by the 1973 oil crisis, and his team did not have the money to stay the 34, Bttler retired om Bradshaw, a motorsport PR nsultant who first met Bttler the early 1970s, said: "There was no stigma wh Mike, he was a nice gentle person - everyone knew he was gay, wasn't a secret and was accepted.
"I spect would have been easier for him to live the liftyle he wanted LA and San Francis, whereas beg gay London was a more secretive thg, " said Phillips. "'LGBT+ people have always been part of motorsport'Brr Endurance Champnship driver and Racg Pri -founr Richard Morris has had lots of support wh motorsport after g out as gay 2018Sce Bttler's ath, several motorsport drivers have e out as Mans class wner Danny Watts me out 2017, a year after retirg, while the W Seri there is LGBT+ reprentatn on track fellow Brish drivers Abbie Eaton and Sarah Moore. Richard Morris, -founr of Racg Pri and a driver for the Praga team the Brr Endurance Champnship, me out as gay 2018, when already tablished motorsport.
OUT WRTLER AC MACK’S PRO WRTLG PURPOSE GO BEYOND TL
Some people knew I was gay but I wasn't out - I thk that is very siar to Bttler's experience.
A GAY F1 DRIVER WOULD BE A 'POWERFUL ROLE MOL' FOR THE SPORT, OP ASTON MART MEMBER
"If he was alive, he would have been terviewed about Sectn 28 and gay marriage. "Sectn 28 was a law that affected England, Wal and Stland, passed 1988 by a Conservative ernment that stopped uncils and schools "promotg the teachg of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship" were mass protts by LGBT+ mpaigners and the law was repealed Stland 2000, before England and Wal did the same 2003. Are there gay F1 drivers?
I've been thkg about this topic for que some time but I realised that gay f1 drivers seem to e few and far between.