On Tuday, Raphael Orlove and Bill Caswell posed the qutn on Jalopnik, “Why Aren’t There More ‘Out’ Gay Race Car Drivers?” Actually, there are more than you thk.
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'
BY NICK POUST Freddy Niblack is the first openly gay driver the IndyCar Seri, but that's not all that f him. As is the se for so many * gay indy car drivers *
”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. "Richard Morris, a gay racg driver and founr of Racg Pri, scrib how a simple e of language n e some people to feel like g out is not an optn. Bee you're aaid that if you say you're gay, and they don't support you, then they're not gog to give you that drive or they won't treat you the same as your teammate.
"So I did enunter some homophobia. "Emmanouilis, an Atralian wh Greek herage, did not e out to her fay until after universy, but to everyone else she has always been open about beg gay. "To be a woman, to be a gay woman, F1 is important to me, not jt bee I want to be accsible to others and be that visibily, but to help other people who want to be my posn.
"Y, you n be a woman a male-domated dtry, or a gay man or non-bary, transgenr, but, at the end of the day, everyone lov motorsport and I thk that's really important to foc on. "Formula 1, as an anisatn, has taken steps to addrs s lack of diversy, lnchg the We Race As One iative 2020 to raise awarens for racial equaly and discrimatn of all kds, cludg anti-gay said their statement: "It will not be a one-week or one-year theme that disappears as issu disappear om headl, will unrp the Formula 1 strategy to make a tangible difference our sport and society.