Brendan Holer on Beg Out as a Gay Cyclist | The Pro's Closet

Contents:

• THIS GAY TEENAGE CYCLIST IS ONE OF THE FIRST PRO MALE RIRS TO EVER E OUT
• GAY CYCLG LOVER
• MOST CYCLISTS ARE GAY?
• ELE CYCLIST CLAY DAVI OUT AS GAY: ‘IT TOOK ME NEARLY DYG TO REVEAL MY SEXUALY’
• GRAEME OBREE REVEALS HE IS GAY
• TAYLER WIL: I HOPE THE MEN'S PELOTON BE MORE ACCEPTG OF GAY RIRS
• THE GAY CYCLIST
• THIS CYCLIST STARTED GAY’S OKAY CYCLG TO CELEBRATE DIVERSY AND IMPROVE REPRENTATN
• GAY CYCLG CHAMP PROMOT AN THENTIC AND VISIBLE LIFE
• GAY CYCLIST FDS HIS BAND OF BROTHERS AT INDIANA UNIVERSY ATERNY
• GAY BIKE STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG
• GAY CYCLG TOUR
• BRISH CYCLIST CLAY DAVI OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• ‘PUMPG’ IS DANGERO NEW FAD AMONG GAY MEN

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

” swagger (thk Dick Vale, not At Powers), all the trappgs of a tradnal cis whe male, or at least those of a ago, a time that now feels curly antiquated nsirg how far we’ve e — Holer was gay. After his parti wrapped, he’d feign fatigue, tell iends he was head to bed, then meet lol men onle and later that same night person (anywhere except for Rochter’s gay bars, which he avoid for fear that a straight iend might spot him).

’ So, to a kid the msage was, ‘Hey, if you’re gay and you have sex wh someone of the same sex, you’re gonna get AIDS and die.

’ There was no Michael Sam om the Rams beg like, ‘Yo, what’s up everyone, I’m gay and I’m cshg people on the football field. "To a kid the msage was, ‘Hey, if you’re gay and you have sex wh someone of the same sex, you’re gonna get AIDS and die. A gay athlete like Sam, the first openly gay NFL player, was the type of role mol that Holer need.

GAY CYCLG LOVER

By llege, partyg replaced those activi, but he tackled wh the same gto and palled around wh a crew of straight male iends typil of that ilk and era, one which a certa homophobic slur was so woven to the vernacular that Holer sometim heard g out of his own mouth. Perhaps wantg to repture some of that magic of his first weekend as an openly gay man, he moved to Nashville, and not long after that, he met Chris Cooley, a silver-haired ntist 25 years his senr.

Though tergeneratnal relatnships are mon  the gay muny, Holer wasn’t eager to expla to straight iends, and so he’d rigned himself to the ia of beg out while somehow remag hidn. It’s a photo he proudly shared on Instagram, along wh the hashtag #gaycyclist — somethg he clus wh nearly everythg he posts.

As a teenager and young adult, Holer never got the gay mentor he need, one who might have broken the mold for him by monstratg that there are untls ways which one n rve out a gay inty. It’s a statistic that don’t add up, as Cyclg Weekly poted out, nsirg the percentage of the world’s populatn who are gay.

MOST CYCLISTS ARE GAY?

Here’s what one versn of that life looks like: Brendan Holer standg atop the podium as natnal champ, all his different selv alcg to his 6-foot-5 ame, skny, sg, arms raised triumph, a gay man lookg directly to the mera, unaaid to fully be himself.

Former world champn Graeme Obree revealed he was gay 2011, disclosg he ponred suici bee of his sexualy. In his announcement, Laevens acknowledged he don’t know any other active openly gay male cyclists. “I didn’t fd difficult to exprs myself, but I did sport, bee I don’t know any [cyclist] who is gay, ” he said.

Gay ele cyclist Clay Davi opens up about homophobia he’s experienced sport and the “pretty low basele of unrstandg” of LGBT+ cln wh Brish Cyclg.

ELE CYCLIST CLAY DAVI OUT AS GAY: ‘IT TOOK ME NEARLY DYG TO REVEAL MY SEXUALY’

In the terview, he explaed there is a “perceptn” that pro cyclists have a “b of a closed mdset” and might “behave strangely if they knew you were gay“. He relled beg at the Eastern regn road race champnships a uple of years ago and wnsg “homophobic slurs beg thrown around” which he said “wasn’t jt banter”.

Former world champn cyclist Graeme Obree revealed he is gay 2011 and opened up about his stggl wh mental health as he me to terms wh his sexualy. The spokperson add “anybody our sport who is subject to or wns any type of discrimatory or appropriate behavur” is enuraged to report to the Brish Cyclg Compliance team “so that we n take the appropriate actn and send a clear msage that homophobia and transphobia will not be tolerated our sport”.

Image 1 of 4Graeme Obree on track at Palermo for World Track Champnships whout helmet (Jonny Lee Miller) (Image cred: MGM)Graeme Obree, a two-time World Champn and hour rerd holr, has admted the torment he faced as he me to terms wh his sexualy, after revealg that he is gay to a Brish an terview wh the Sttish Sun newspaper published on Monday, Obree admted that the anxiety associated wh hidg the fact that he was gay had led to two separate attempts to take his own life, 1998 and 2001. I mt have known I was gay and was so unacceptable, " said the Obree's private life and his achievements on the bike have bed to make him one of cyclg's most enigmatic figur.

GRAEME OBREE REVEALS HE IS GAY

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.

TAYLER WIL: I HOPE THE MEN'S PELOTON BE MORE ACCEPTG OF GAY RIRS

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.

” 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. 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.

THE GAY CYCLIST

“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. 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.

THIS CYCLIST STARTED GAY’S OKAY CYCLG TO CELEBRATE DIVERSY AND IMPROVE REPRENTATN

“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”.

GAY CYCLG CHAMP PROMOT AN THENTIC AND VISIBLE LIFE

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

GAY CYCLIST FDS HIS BAND OF BROTHERS AT INDIANA UNIVERSY ATERNY

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. The effect on participatn is stark: young gay mal play team sports at half the rate of their peers.

GAY BIKE STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG

Olympic gold medallist Callum Skner has been outspoken on LGBTQ+ reprentatn cyclg sce revealg that his younger brother Roy and dad Stt are gay:“I actively hid my brother’s and dad’s sexualy. Havg been to a very bohemian, middle-class school where other kids had gay parents, I’d felt fortable about .

GAY CYCLG TOUR

""But when I moved to Manchter [to jo the BC Amy], was my first exposure to kids om diverse backgrounds, and that’s when I began to hear [homophobic] slurs.

I’m agast makg any gay cyclist feel obliged to e out for the sake of the movement, as has to be pletely their own choice. "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.

Tayler Wil spoke wh Cyclgnews om the Trek-Segaedo mp January shortly after 'cross racer Jt Laevens me out as growg up Utah surround by nservative Mormon culture to livg the Bay Area as an openly gay profsnal cyclist, Amerin Tayler Wil has fed her own unique path through life and sport. Cyclgnews spoke wh the Trek-Segaedo rir about her hop for gay rirs the men's peloton, cyclg the time of panmic and the shiftg Olympic Wil and her partner Olivia Dillon have been the subject of numero articl, they've been lled one of cyclg's olt upl.

BRISH CYCLIST CLAY DAVI OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

While Wil' reer the pro peloton tak her around the world, Dillon's role wh the clothg pany Veloc allows her to work remotely and jo Wil Europe for long stretch – much like many married upl the 's not que the same for the men's peloton: there are no openly gay WorldTour rirs and when an U23 cyclo-cross racer Jt Laevens me out, ma headl.

"It may be that gay men perceive that sports aren't part of their culture or that pro sport's macho culture exclus them, but Wil says she hop the culture will change. I was thkg the other day that asi om dopg, the qutn of openly gay athlet is one of the big issu that seems to cross the boundari of sport. I will start off by sayg Y I am, as most of you might have been thkg, gay, or acrdg to Merriam-Webster; homosexual.

Sendly, the term ‘gay’ also refers to the overall ‘merry’ disposn one might feel while ridg a bicycle. In ncln, this blog, much like cyclg is for everyone, bee the end, we’re all a ltle gay…cyclists! In recent years, Davi reunts hearg rirs dish out anti-gay slurs, cludg at a road race champnship.

‘PUMPG’ IS DANGERO NEW FAD AMONG GAY MEN

We are affiliated wh and actively volved wh the peak state cyclg anisatn, Bicycle New South Wal unr our alternate name GAYBUG [BUG stands for Bicycle User Group].

Name: Allan ShawAge: 32Hometown: Dunfermle, Stland; Current Home: Mexi Cy, MexiOccupatn: Owner/Operator at Gay’s Okay CyclgTime Cyclg: 20 yearsReason for Cyclg: To stay forever motn, forever journey to cyclg was que anic.

Crossg untri and ntents around the world, bikepackg beme my preferred way to get to know the 2016, I was spired to start Gay’s Okay Cyclg to take up more space, improve visibily, and plant seeds of posivy for LGBTIQ people cyclg. I thk at some pot I really started noticg that I was always the only gay person, or one of very few LGBTQ+ people at any cyclg event.