Hurley Haywood on life as a gay racg champn: 'I didn't have any male role mols' | Motor sport | The Guardian

Contents:

• HURLEY HAYWOOD ON LIFE AS A GAY RACG CHAMPN: 'I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MALE ROLE MOLS'
• THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK

HURLEY HAYWOOD ON LIFE AS A GAY RACG CHAMPN: 'I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MALE ROLE MOLS'

”The is the fact that Haywood is gay. Haywood, after all, didn’t jt hi pla sight at a time when homophobia was monplace and panic over the Aids epimic was reachg fever pch. “I didn’t have any gay male role mols.

I had to al wh all that stuff myself, work through all the problems of what would be like if I sudnly me out as gay. I’m gay and I jt don’t know where to go and what to do. ” And now that he’s out, he’s hopg he n be the gay male role mol that he never had.

“I thk one of the problems that gay people face is how they are portrayed by televisn and by movi and the prs, ” he says. “It’s always kd of a negative image of a gay person, and gay people are rol that are obvly gay. I always fd that disturbg bee I know lots of very, very succsful gay people who are every form of bs that you n thk of, and that are not your typil gay personaly or [have] gay tras”And yet for all of Haywood’s good tentns, the odds of him spirg one siarly proment to racer to go public wh their own g out story seem slim.

THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK

Several officials si racg anisatns say that spe drivers like Lewis Haton and Sebastian Vettel, both of whom have worn Pri lours at var rac this season, beg supportive alli, many queer people team garag feel more fortable stayg Bishop, Aston Mart's chief munitns officer, has worked motorsport for over 25 years, and as "the only [out] gay the F1 village" the 1990s, he has often field msag om people stgglg to e out to lleagu after years the dtry.