LGBT+ History Month: Mike Bttler - Formula 1's only known gay male driver - BBC Sport

Contents:

• HURLEY HAYWOOD ON LIFE AS A GAY RACG CHAMPN: 'I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MALE ROLE MOLS'
• THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM
• THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK
• AFTER MAKG HISTORY AS AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, DEVON ROE CHAS EVEN BIGGER NASCAR DREAMS
• LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER

HURLEY HAYWOOD ON LIFE AS A GAY RACG CHAMPN: 'I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MALE ROLE MOLS'

”The is the fact that Haywood is gay. Haywood, after all, didn’t jt hi pla sight at a time when homophobia was monplace and panic over the Aids epimic was reachg fever pch.

THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM

“I didn’t have any gay male role mols. I had to al wh all that stuff myself, work through all the problems of what would be like if I sudnly me out as gay.

I’m gay and I jt don’t know where to go and what to do. ” And now that he’s out, he’s hopg he n be the gay male role mol that he never had. “I thk one of the problems that gay people face is how they are portrayed by televisn and by movi and the prs, ” he says.

THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK

“It’s always kd of a negative image of a gay person, and gay people are rol that are obvly gay. I always fd that disturbg bee I know lots of very, very succsful gay people who are every form of bs that you n thk of, and that are not your typil gay personaly or [have] gay tras”And yet for all of Haywood’s good tentns, the odds of him spirg one siarly proment to racer to go public wh their own g out story seem slim. First Openly Gay Racer Driver IndyCar Seri Freddy Niblack.

Freddy Niblack is the first openly gay driver the IndyCar Seri, but that’s not all that f him. As is the se for so many athlet, homosexual or not, he is also a person lookg to acplish a dream – a dream he’s had sce his childhood days spent rvg a race track through neighbors’ yards on his go-kart as the sound of the nearby Indianapolis 500 engulfed the air surroundg his fay’s Speedway, Indiana home.

“It didn’t matter if you had a podium fish, a first-place fish or a top-five, you were still the gay driver. “Wh some teams gay men are viewed as the weak lk, which is funny bee some of my tim and fish were a lot better than my unterparts, or my teammat, ” he adds. Niblack is back home after signg on to race for Indianapolis-based Top Kart USA, which didn’t even know he was gay when he was signed.

AFTER MAKG HISTORY AS AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, DEVON ROE CHAS EVEN BIGGER NASCAR DREAMS

The gay thg isn’t really brought up unls I brg up. – the first transgenr-owned pany certified as LGBTBE by the Natnal Gay and Lbian Chamber of Commerce – attend a ttg at Lus Oil Raceway. The gay muny, take your place.

Not all gay men are strippers or rts or wear eyeler. “It is such a small part of my life, but is who I am, ” he says, regardg his homosexualy.

LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER

Now, at other plac, was, ‘We don’t want you gog here, we don’t want you gog there, we don’t want you alg wh this publitn, we don’t want you alg wh this gay event. ’ Well, I am a gay man. 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. 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.