Few profsnal male cyclists of any disciple have been openly gay.
Contents:
- BMX PRO COREY WALSH COM OUT AS ONE OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE CYCLISTS
- MOST CYCLISTS ARE GAY?
- THIS GAY TEENAGE CYCLIST IS ONE OF THE FIRST PRO MALE RIRS TO EVER E OUT
- GRAEME OBREE REVEALS HE IS GAY
- BEG GAY CYCLE SPORT: A JUNR RIR’S EXPERIENCE
- TAYLER WIL: I HOPE THE MEN'S PELOTON BE MORE ACCEPTG OF GAY RIRS
BMX PRO COREY WALSH COM OUT AS ONE OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE CYCLISTS
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. * cyclists are 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.
I mean people thk thgs like yeah, this job is too hard for a homosexual person.
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.
MOST CYCLISTS ARE GAY?
* cyclists are gay *
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.
THIS GAY TEENAGE CYCLIST IS ONE OF THE FIRST PRO MALE RIRS TO EVER E OUT
Laevens, who’s 19 years old, says he wants to be an example for other gay cyclists. * cyclists are gay *
“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.
GRAEME OBREE REVEALS HE IS GAY
Ele Brish cyclist Clay Davi says more mt be done to stamp out anti-gay sentiments. * cyclists are gay *
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?
BEG GAY CYCLE SPORT: A JUNR RIR’S EXPERIENCE
Pogar seems to be surround by people wh dg phg past? Are most rirs gay? * cyclists are 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.
TAYLER WIL: I HOPE THE MEN'S PELOTON BE MORE ACCEPTG OF GAY RIRS
“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.