He played it straight for 17 years
A major personality in the British racing scene has come out as gay. Danny Watts, 37 years old, has spent most of his life hiding his sexuality.
He has been a professional race car drive for 24 years and has competed in many forms of motorsport in the UK and around Europe.
Most of his fans know him from being a regular competitor in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s longest running sports car endurance race.
According to an interview he gave to Gay Star News, he came out of the closet after retiring. The reason he stayed in for so long is because he feared losing sponsorship deals as an out gay man.
He is married and has a son.
In his comments to GSN: “All the other guys in the paddock had girlfriends so I got one to blend in. When that relationship ended, I got another one. So I continued pretending to be straight for 17 years.
I needed to lie and womanize. I was one of the worst womanizers in my over-compensation to maintain the facade of heterosexuality,” he reveals.
He was asked why he waited so long to come out. In response, Watts shared: “I would need to live in the closet if I wanted my motorsport career to go anywhere.
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There were enough gay jokes and homophobic slurs to go around, and I felt like if I lifted my head out of the trenches, I’d be immediately annihilated. Staying hidden was nothing but torture and pain,” he said.
Mr. Watts also came out to his wife and over the course of time, told his son the truth about his sexual orientation.
His wife indicated that she had known for years and that she was happy he finally is out of the closet.
Here’s more from the GSN article:
“When he was involved in the industry, Watts was afraid of becoming friends with LGBTI people.
The British car racing industry has no high profile openly gay professional drivers.
He explains: “I couldn’t speak to or make friends with other people like me for fear that someone would notice and connect the dots.”
But he’s hoping to inspire young professional racing drivers who might now be going through the same thing.
Being out to my immediate circle has made me feel far more comfortable with myself,’ he explains.
I have so much more mental energy, now that I’m not constantly keeping track of the burdensome, decades-old lie.”
Mr. Watts is now at a place where he shows up at racing events with Pride gear to racing events – something he would never have dreamed of doing in the past.
“I even got up the courage to wear a Pride bracelet and a pendant with the gay man logo to the track, and started hanging out with the fun people who noticed and commented on my jewelry in the autograph queue.”
He is now hoping to draw awareness around the fact that LGBT drivers are part of motorsports and wants to serve as a role model.
h/t: Gay Star News
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By: John Hollywood
