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:
- 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'
BY NICK POUST 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 * gay indycar driver *
”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.
“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.
THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM
On Tuday, Raphael Orlove and Bill Caswell posed the qutn on Jalopnik, “Why Aren’t There More ‘Out’ Gay Race Car Drivers?” Actually, there are more than you thk. * gay indycar driver *
I’m gay and I jt don’t know where to go and what to do.
THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK
* gay indycar driver *
” 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. “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.
AFTER MAKG HISTORY AS AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, DEVON ROE CHAS EVEN BIGGER NASCAR DREAMS
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.
LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER
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. 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.