Gay cyclist Jt Laevens is one of first pro male rirs to e out - Outsports

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Laevens, who’s 19 years old, says he wants to be an example for other gay cyclists.

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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. * gay road bikes *

” 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). “I had a iend whom I told I was gay, and he was like, ‘You’re kiddg me, right?

You CANNOT be gay. Growg up durg the ‘80s and ‘90s suburban Rochter, Holer didn’t have any gay role mols.

RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB

Few profsnal male cyclists of any disciple have been openly gay. * gay road bikes *

“I had no gay iends.

My fay didn’t know any gay people.

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

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I had no accs to a real gay human, which sounds crazy to say…” he adms now. ’ 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.

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Amazg imag om one of the earlit gay groups of the morn era. * gay road bikes *

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. Walle ti his iend’s talent as a ach to that of his g-out journey as a gay man.

It’s a photo he proudly shared on Instagram, along wh the hashtag #gaycyclist — somethg he clus wh nearly everythg he posts.

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“I have iends who make ments like, ‘Du, no one r that you’re gay.

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. This “nspicuo absence” suggts that a stigma of the gay male athlete persists.

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. ”Corey is one of the first high-profile male cyclists of any disciple to e out as gay, jog pro road racers Graeme Obree and Jt Laevens and fellow BMXer Matt Berger as one of the very few LGBT men the bike jt sucks ya know? The club is one of the olst all-ridg, all-gay, all-male motorcycle anizatns the world.

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

While other motorcycle clubs have perhaps been active for longer perds of time (at least one group disput that they are the olst all-male, all-gay group), Empire Cy is the only one that requir, and has always required, all of s members to ri a motorcycle.

"Beg a gay biker, beg a group, you fd yourself wh people who have the same terts, the same fort level, " he go on. Though E stopped ridg 1996, he is currently an ECMC Emer member, meang he don't have to own a bike or license signatn, or pay the 1960s, when E joed, "gay" was not somethg you discsed and "out" was not somethg you were.

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Ridg wh the Olst All-Gay, All-Male, All-Ridg Motorcycle Club .

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