Obviously, you don't know how much you really encounter because some of it goes on behind your back. And then when you hear people using unhelpful words, even if they're not aimed at you, it just reinforces that idea that you won't be included."įor a sport which has historically been a white, hetero-masculine environment, those who belong to a minority group can find it tricky to find their place and feel comfortable.īishop, a Racing Pride ambassador, says: "Anybody who didn't fit into that demographic bubble was very much an outlier. "But that can feel quite isolating if you are from a minority group.
Morris says: "It's not that people in motorsport weren't open to including more people, it's that they didn't know how to have those conversations, they were just awkward conversations that never happened. READ: 17 LGBTQ+ athletes share their coming out journeys
Its ambassadors include trans endurance driver Charlie Martin, trans rally driver Rowena Purdy, and Sky Sports journalist Jon Holmes. Racing Pride, founded in 2018, was inspired by football's Rainbow Laces campaign, and, in conjunction with LGBTQ+ awareness group Stonewall, aims to promote inclusivity, encourage awareness, and educate people on how to make the sport accessible to all. "Automatically, you start hiding bits of your life and then that sets up these situations where you go to collect your trophy at the end of the season and you don't bring your partner even though everyone else brings theirs." Because you're afraid that if you say you're gay, and they don't support you, then they're not going to give you that drive or they won't treat you the same as your teammate.
"I've had so many conversations when I've had to just drop out all the pronouns and say 'my partner does this, they do that,' I never use he/him. "I didn't feel like I could challenge that and say, 'Actually, no, I have a boyfriend.' I just felt like I had to play along with it because I didn't want to risk damaging that relationship with this person," Morris, who drove for CW Performance in the 2021 Britcar Endurance Championship, tells ESPN. Richard Morris, a gay racing driver and founder of Racing Pride, describes how a simple use of language can cause some people to feel like coming out is not an option.Įarlier in his career, before he came out publicly, it was a conversation with his soon-to-be chief mechanic during a seat fit when the topic of girlfriends came up. "And then there are some who have come back to motorsport years later, thinking perhaps things may have changed, even in different teams, but finding that same experience." "I know people who have left F1 because of various problems with discrimination that they face, sexism that they face, and not just on the sly but blatantly as well," she tells ESPN. She says she knows people in F1 teams who are part of the LGBTQ+ community and still don't feel comfortable about coming out. Not after not being out for 30 years.'"Īlfa Romeo Racing's Krystina Emmanouilides, who is a lesbian and an ambassador for Racing Pride - global motorsport's LGBTQ+ awareness organisation - agrees. "Now, let's say they've worked for Williams or McLaren or whomever for 30 years, and they perhaps feel they want come out now, they may even be married to their male partner, but they don't. "When they arrived, they assumed they had to be because they were, you know, mechanics sharing rooms with other mechanics and the world wasn't ready for them to come out," Bishop told ESPN. Matt Bishop, Aston Martin's chief communications officer, has worked in motorsport for over 25 years, and as "the only gay in the F1 village" in the 1990s, he has often fielded messages from people struggling to come out to colleagues after years in the industry.
Several officials inside racing organisations say that despite drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, both of whom have worn Pride colours at various races this season, being supportive allies, many queer people in team garages feel more comfortable staying closeted.
In 2021, as increasing numbers of sportspeople are feeling comfortable about coming out, there are still people working in Formula 1 and other series who feel they cannot be honest about their sexuality and gender identity, even after 25 to 30 years of working in motorsport. Racing proud: How motorsport is slowly changing for LGBTQ+ staff
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