At the beginning of September I was lucky enough to be selected to attend Stonewall's 2013 Talent Programme. This is an annual course run by the London based LGBT charity, that teaches 18-25yr olds the benefits of being a gay role model in the workplace.
It was an amazing 2 days where I met some truly fantastic people, both in the other candidates on the course and also the speakers that we were lucky enough to hear from. The stories I heard over the exhausting two days were some of the most deep and heart moving I have ever listened to and I'm deeply honoured to have done so. But I make it sound like a really emotional two days, and it was, but also I have never laughed so much with complete strangers.
I tried to think of the single funniest story from the course and I remembered the corporate dinner with the main sponsors: Bank of America Merrill Lynch. We were told to wear smart casual clothes for the formal dinner so I suited and booted accordingly. We were then taken to Jerwood Space in London. Shown inside, given wine and canapés and told to mingle. Sadly the wine they had chosen to bestow on us was vile, so I decided to go for the safe and sensible Orange Juice, which was also vile. Going well so far.
We were then told that dinner was going to be served and to make our way to the tables, naturally of course there was a seating plan. At the head of our table was a rather serious and sombre looking bald man who introduced himself as Richard. How my heart sank. How I'd hoped that we could have a light conversation with the odd polite chuckle thrown in over a joke about immigration or taxation. I cannot ever comprehend how wrong I was. I don't think I've ever laughed so much over dinner. We talked about boyfriends/girlfriends, one night stands, G-A-Y the previous night and how I'd apparently been rather popular in the gay clubs (I don't remember any of that night...) and also it turns out Richard is a raging lesbian admirer. So much so he persuaded two of us (YES ME) to download Brenda... quite possibly my lowest moment I'll admit. But the hilarity outweighs any negative feelings I might have gotten from downloading the "Lesbian cruising" app. (I deleted it 5 minutes later).
I have spoken to other Talent Programme members since the course for the purpose of this blog post, and one thing I did notice was how popular the final activity of the course was, to name our role models.
Now those of you who would bet good dollar I said sportsmen would be rolling in the money. I chose among a few personal friends and colleagues, Alistair Brownlee, James Cracknell and Bradley Wiggins. I also chose Tim Cook because of being the gay CEO of Apple.
But one thing that was noted among the other candidates was that I didn't chose an openly gay cyclist. Now there is a good reason for this. There aren't any. Well... there are none that are openly gay in the modern peloton that I am aware of. The only result I can find on Google is that of Graeme Obree. A famous track cyclist that liked to experiment with different bike designs and being "unique" in his approach to racing. However when I found a news article where he talks about being gay, I was firstly annoyed that the only gay cyclist I could find was a retired one, then I was angry after reading what he had said.
Obree had gone on to say that whilst he had come out since retiring, he strongly urged today's professionals not to reveal their homosexuality, for fear of how they would be treated by the cycling community and team mates. He's a first class idiot.
Being both a gay man and cyclist, what Obree says REALLY annoys me. While I completely respect his decision to stay "closeted" himself, I disagree with his statement that others should. He has absolutely no right to be the authority on the matter.
I'll give you a scenario for why I think he is wrong on so many levels.
A child grows up loving cycling and has many idols in the sport who are fairly obvious examples, but also at the same time they're questioning their own sexuality. How amazing would be it for them to find an openly gay cyclist that they can relate to? I speak for myself because this scenario is mine, it would have been amazing. I would have had a role model that I could completely relate to because they have not only announced to the world they're gay, but made a success of their life, however sadly this didn't happen. In sport you can turn off the worries that you face in your everyday life and just immerse yourself in participating. If you see that there is a successful sportsman, or just an individual that is accepting of their sexuality in your sport, then it obviously creates an admiration for this person.
Stonewall knows that young people need role models to aspire to, to look to because of them accepting their sexuality and succeeding. On Monday 16th September, Stonewall went to 92 professional football teams in England and 42 in Scotland to ask them to wear rainbow laces during their matches. The reason? To promote the idea that you can be homosexual in football and eradicate homophobia from the areas that you play and support a team.
Now while I admit this is a fantastic thing for both sport and binning homophobia, I feel that we cannot stop at football. Obviously I am biased and would like a similar campaign to be carried through to cycling and other sports where children are being influenced by the actions and lifestyle choices of sportsmen and women.
I mean hell in pro cycling there is a rainbow jersey, if only it was a "fabulous" one.
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