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

DANIEL GAY

Daniel Gay (born 1995-06-12) is a road racg cyclist om Uned Stat, active between 2014 and 2014. * daniel gay cycling *

Daniel Gay (born 12 June 1995) is a road racg cyclist who pet ternatnally for the Uned Stat.

DANIEL GAY

* daniel gay cycling *

Daniel Gay - Rults. Daniel Gay is a cyclist om USA (born June 12th 1995).

CYCLG - DANIEL GAY

Daniel Gay is a cyclist om USA (born June 12th 1995). * daniel gay cycling *

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.

DANIEL GAY

Brendan Holer is a Masters Natnal Champn, 9-time state champn, a pro cyclg ach, and openly gay. The stigma of the gay male athlete persists, and ’s a stigma he hop to change. * daniel gay cycling *

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.

DANIEL GAY

Ele Brish cyclist Clay Davi says more mt be done to stamp out anti-gay sentiments. * daniel gay cycling *

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. “None of the rirs I traed wh would be explicly homophobic an abive way, ” Ryan tells me.

” 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.

“It was jt the gay jok, beg asked nstantly ‘Are you gay? “When to homophobic banter, needs to be taken more serly by erng bodi.

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. “I’ve asked a few male cyclists why they thk there are no openly gay men, ” she says, “and their rpons really surprised me.