An current junr rir shar his story of beg a gay rir the sport
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.
MOST CYCLISTS ARE GAY?
Few profsnal male cyclists of any disciple have been openly gay. * cyclists are gay *
"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.
Estimat on the proportn of UK and US people who are gay or bisexual range om about three to seven per cent.
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 *
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.
“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.
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 *
” 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.
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 *
” 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.
TAYLER WIL: I HOPE THE MEN'S PELOTON BE MORE ACCEPTG OF GAY RIRS
“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”.