Accintal figurehead: Clay Davi, the only openly gay male ele rir the UK | Cyclg Weekly

Contents:

• GAY CYCLG GROUPS IN THE UK
• ACCINTAL FIGUREHEAD: CLAY DAVI, THE ONLY OPENLY GAY MALE ELE RIR THE UK
• MEET OUR GROUPS: GAY OUTDOOR CLUB
• GRAEME OBREE REVEALS HE IS GAY
• RI TO LONDON'S GAY PAST FOR LGBT HISTORY MONTH
• GAY OUTDOOR CLUB
• THIS GAY TEENAGE CYCLIST IS ONE OF THE FIRST PRO MALE RIRS TO EVER E OUT
• DRIVER WHO LLED CYCLIST 'GAY BOY' AND SPAT AT HIM JAILED FOR 8 WEEKS; BSSELS BIKE THIEF JAILED FOR ‘ELOGIL CRIME’; JOSH QUIGLEY TO GET NEW BIKE OM SHAND CYCL; BEAT CYCLG CLUB'S 'BURNG BREX' RI + MORE ON THE LIVE BLOG
• BRISH CYCLIST CLAY DAVI OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• BMX PRO COREY WALSH COM OUT AS ONE OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE CYCLISTS
• BEG GAY CYCLE SPORT: A JUNR RIR’S EXPERIENCE

GAY CYCLG GROUPS IN THE UK

On this page we’ve summarised everythg gay cyclists  England, Wal and Stland want to know before their first ri.

For example, we equently see gay bikers, mounta bikers or BMXers try their hand at road bikg (and then of urse fallg love wh ). Earlier this year Davi, 29, who rac for the Spir-Bontrager-BSS-Rotor ele, ma a historic cisn earlier this summer, as he publicly me out as gay an terview wh cyclg webse The Brish Contental. As Cyclg Weekly tailed a feature May there are currently no male WorldTour pro rirs who are out, spe the chance of their beg no gay men the peloton so vanishgly small as to be close to zero, and only a very select handful of amatrs.

”>>> Subscriptns als for Cyclg Weekly magazeDpe the fairly monumental moniker as Bra’s first openly gay ele male racer, ’s his nfince that stck me durg our hour-long nversatn. Davi says his phone did not stop rgg for days after, all wh overwhelmg support - apart om one says the manager of a Brish cyclg team sent him a msage veiled homophobia, sayg: “I don’t get this fashn for everyone havg to ph their sexualy onto each other.

ACCINTAL FIGUREHEAD: CLAY DAVI, THE ONLY OPENLY GAY MALE ELE RIR THE UK

”Changg tis(Image cred: Daniel Gould)While improvg diversy has been an important topic over the last few years, there are a number of iativ pavg the way for a more clive Out is a new and clive cyclg group set up for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and asexual people (LGBTQIA+) and alli across the UK, welg everyone regardls of their genr inty, sexualy, ethnicy, age, or abily. In rponse to him and other reports of homophobia and transphobia the sport Brian Facer, chief executive of Brish Cyclg, said: “It has been eply worryg to read recent weeks reports about the homophobia and transphobia to which some of our fellow cyclists have been subjected. “We mt do more to unrstand why that is not happeng but I wanted to take an opportuny to say this: homophobia and transphobia are not acceptable our sport.

MEET OUR GROUPS: GAY OUTDOOR CLUB

”Brish Cyclg has enuraged anyone who has experienced transphobia or homophobia cyclg to report , by emailg explas the need to hi their sexualy uld be holdg back gay rirs om reachg the top of the sport: “I’m of the view, bee I’m a rults driven guy, if the bt rir is a straight man, that’s who you sign. “The pot I’m makg, out of all of this, is that the gay man might not be as good as he uld be, bee he’s havg to hi the fact that he’s gay. "Estimat on the proportn of UK and US people who are gay or bisexual range om about three to seven per cent, as reported a recent Cyclg Weekly vtigatn to the absence of openly LGBTQ+ rirs the profsnal timat suggt there should be between five and 12 LGBTQ+ rirs currently ridg the Tour France.

"The whole peloton, the whole cyclg fay, will have to face when somebody will feels fortable enough to clare [they are LGBTQ+], " Guarnieri says of how the more homophobic elements of the sport will have to tch up quickly when the first pro rir cis to e out. Celebrate lbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, tersex and ace / asexual (LGBTQIA+) cyclists and their stori, not jt on key dat... Adopt strict zero-tolerance polici of biphobia, homophobia, lbophobia and transphobia (and siar).

In recent months, we have seen disturbg allegatns of homophobia and transphobia surfacg at an ele level cyclg; the have been reported numero media outlets:. In Clay Davi’ terview July 2021 wh the Brish Contental and on the BBC LGBT Sport Podst, he raised issu of ‘homophobic slurs beg thrown around, management led issu, nothg beg done when anythg appropriate, laddish or homophobic is said' pl 'ach and team management fdg hilar.

GRAEME OBREE REVEALS HE IS GAY

In another Brish Contental article, a male junr rir reported ‘laddish behavur, homophobic slurs and said ‘In my experience, Brish Cyclg do not re about this issue. Countls tim I have been at Brish Cyclg-n ssns and a rir has said somethg homophobic, transphobic...

Chief Executive, Brian Facer said: ‘It has been eply worryg to read recent weeks reports about the homophobia and transphobia to which some of our fellow cyclists have been subjected … I wanted to take an opportuny to say this: homophobia and transphobia are not acceptable our sport. ’Gay ele cyclist Clay Davi opens up about homophobia he’s experienced sport and the “pretty low basele of unrstandg” of LGBTQIA+ cln wh Brish Cyclg. ’ The article went on to highlight 'of the 978 rirs the men’s pro peloton, none are gay’ and proposed ‘the probabily that all are straight is one ten trilln.

Over the past 12 months, we have reached out to Brish Cyclg, Cyclg UK, the Department for Transport, Sport England, Strans and UK Sport to urge more be done about homophobia & transphobia, a lack of LGBTQIA+ participatn statistics, aquate reprentatn of LGBTQIA+ cyclists and unsatisfactory fundg. In recent years, Davi reunts hearg rirs dish out anti-gay slurs, cludg at a road race champnship.

RI TO LONDON'S GAY PAST FOR LGBT HISTORY MONTH

Former world champn Graeme Obree revealed he was gay 2011, disclosg he ponred suici bee of his sexualy. Of the 978 rirs the men’s pro peloton, none are this statement is te on the surface – not a sgle male rir at WorldTour or ProTeam level publicly intifi as gay – ’s starkly implsible as soon as that surface is scratched. Estimat on the proportn of UK and US people who are gay or bisexual range om about three to seven per cent.

If we take the low-end timate for men, three per cent, then you would expect there to be about 30 gay or bi rirs the pro peloton – enough for a whole WorldTour squad. The qutn, then, is not whether there are gay pros but why none of them feel ee to be open about who they really are. As a gay man who has worked sports media sce the mid-Noughti, I n appreciate why a rir might feel pelled to keep their sexualy a secret.

Even magaze offic – surely ls laddish than race paddocks – I’ve lost unt of the sually homophobic ments I’ve heard. Generally the have not been tentnal sults but rather thoughtls so-lled banter, “gay” ed as a pejorative term, and beg gay only ever mentned terms of speculatn or cheap humour. Ryan (not his real name) is a gay rir who traed among top-flight pros and peted several UCI rac before droppg out of the sport a few years his mid-20s, he has agreed to speak to CW on ndn of anonymy.

GAY OUTDOOR CLUB

” He explas that securg ris on teams was “all about who you know” and spected the nnectns would be harr to foster as a gay rir, possibly to the triment of his reer.

He hop his story will make rirs “more aware that how they act has an effect on others” and that gay rirs g through the ranks today will feel ee to be wholly themselv.

” Cyclg behd society The personal ttimony om Ryan chim wh rearch showg that most LGBTQ+ sportspeople have experienced homophobia; many end up feelg ostracised and suffer related mental health problems.

THIS GAY TEENAGE CYCLIST IS ONE OF THE FIRST PRO MALE RIRS TO EVER E OUT

I didn’t want to prume this was te – part bee I uldn’t thk of any Brish exampl – so I arranged a ll wh US rir Tayler Wil (TrekSegaedo), who has been openly gay for almost her entire pro reer.

“I thk there are many reasons for that but personally I’ve never been on a team that hasn’t had at least one other gay rir – I didn’t have to thk twice about g out. ” Buttrsed by strength numbers, beg gay has never been a e for ncern eher among fellow rirs or wh team directors, explas the 31-year-old. The Catch-22 for the men is that fear and uncertaty around how an openly gay rir might be treated is staed by there beg none.

DRIVER WHO LLED CYCLIST 'GAY BOY' AND SPAT AT HIM JAILED FOR 8 WEEKS; BSSELS BIKE THIEF JAILED FOR ‘ELOGIL CRIME’; JOSH QUIGLEY TO GET NEW BIKE OM SHAND CYCL; BEAT CYCLG CLUB'S 'BURNG BREX' RI + MORE ON THE LIVE BLOG

“I’ve asked a few male cyclists why they thk there are no openly gay men, ” she says, “and their rpons really surprised me. The guys I talked to were all between 20 and 26 and om untri that I thought were super-progrsive, but there was still some homophobic reactn. “One guy said, ‘I don’t thk [a gay rir] would survive bee ’s such a hard sport’, ” Wil lghs at the illogily.

The equatg of homosexualy wh femy and weakns for her betrays that “homophobia and misogyny go together” as a symptom of “men tryg to domate everythg. ” Other male rirs told her that they would be unfortable to have a gay teammate bee “you know, gettg changed together on the b and stuff. ” Rejectg such anxieti pot blank, Wil lls out the homophobic tenncy to “over-sexualise what means to be a gay man”.

As a gay woman who has never had to nceal that part of herself the sport, Wil regnis that mt be “credibly hard” for gay male pros, and urg men who feel secure their sexualy to “step up, speak out and make a more welg environment”.

BRISH CYCLIST CLAY DAVI OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Reprentatn matters “I wasn’t yet openly gay when I first met Tayler [Wil], ” says former pro Molly Waver – speakg to me om Bristol on a break om her studi to bee a paramedic.

BMX PRO COREY WALSH COM OUT AS ONE OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE CYCLISTS

She was there wh her wife Olivia [Dillon, former pro] – at a time when wasn’t so mon to see openly gay upl.

BEG GAY CYCLE SPORT: A JUNR RIR’S EXPERIENCE

He me out publicly January, and as someone petg UCI rac, he is as close as gets to beg that elive phenomenon, an openly gay male pro rir. “I had already told my team-mat, fay and iends that I was gay [ November 2019], ” Laevens tells me over Zoom. ”What would be his msage to a gay rir who is nsirg followg his footsteps and takg that leap of fah?

” Rearch and statistics - 'We need urgent actn to stop discrimatn’ A review of the rearch to LGBTQ+ discrimatn and excln sport by amics at Monash Universy Atralia, published December, highlighted that as many as 82 per cent of athlet had wnsed homophobic or transphobic language sport the past six months. In many s, the slurs are ed by people who claim to hold clive attus towards gay people, implyg a disnnect between belief and behavur.