A Brief Rant About Homophobia In The Car Community

27 Jul 2017

Last month, during the celebration of Pride Month, my hometown decided to paint a few downtown crosswalks in the colours of the Pride flag. It was supposed to be a symbol of support and solidarity towards the LGBTQ+ community. But, thanks to one misguided individual, it ended up putting a literal black mark on the reputation of the car community.

Simply put, someone did a burnout on the painted crosswalk and left tire marks all over it. Although the kid that did this didn’t know that the rainbow crosswalk was a symbol of Pride, it was seen as an act of hatred towards the LGBTQ2+ community. Since the population at large tends to associate burnouts with car enthusiasts, this gave local petrolheads a bad name for quite some time.

I’d like to say that it was an isolated incident, but it isn’t. In fact, these acts of vandalism have occurred across the world with much more malicious intent. Obviously, this is not representative of the majority of people within the car community. Yet, it’s not the only way in which petrolheads have been associated with homophobia.

It’s no secret that a few superstars of the car world have made statements that many in the LGBTQ2+ community have taken objection to. Whether it be the above prank played on Jeremy Clarkson while he slept on an airplane, or Richard Hammond’s confusing statement of avoiding ice cream because he wasn’t gay, some of the world’s most popular car enthusiasts have made comments that could be interpreted as homophobic.

I’m not trying to be self-righteous, but I am disappointed with the amount of homophobia that I have experienced within the car community. I’ve really noticed this after buying my NA MX-5, as if someone thought that it would be an insult to call me gay because I drive a Miata. In fact, it’s common for people to express contempt towards certain vehicles (and their owners) by trying to attach them to homosexuality.

Sometimes, the hate is even more blatant. On many occasions, I have been told by car fans that they do not feel comfortable with being a part of the car community because of their sexuality. These people don’t make a dog-and-pony show of their orientation, but are legitimately fearful for the safety of themselves and their cars should they ever be outed at a car meet.

At Car Throttle, we have made it very clear that homophobia will not be tolerated in our community. It is my personal view that everyone should be able to feel safe in the car community, both online and at the local Cars and Coffee. I don’t care what car you drive, what colour your skin is, what your gender is, or who you want to love. Everyone deserves the chance to be welcomed, accepted, and respected. We’re all friends because we share a common interest—cars. We are not a community of jerks and bigots, and we need to make sure that the rest of the world sees us in that same way.

So here’s something that I think we can all do to make a real difference to both the automotive and LGBTQ2+ communities. Before you show up to the car meet or log on to an online forum, leave your prejudices at the door. Leave all the hate there, too. It’s as simple as treating everyone with respect. If you’re like me, the car community is more than just a group of people who like cars. It’s a group of people who share a common understanding and a way of life. Many of us know what it’s like to be alienated, for one reason or another, and it’s not very fun. Let’s do our best to make sure that no other petrolhead feels that way.

Comments

Here’s my opinion on this: I’m fine with gay people, as long as they don’t require us to treat ‘em in a certain way and limit us to the things we say. I mean, gay people want equality right? So why would they require us to treat ‘em in a specific way where we can’t say stuff we’d say to a normal person? If someone does a burnout on a painted crosswalk or on a normal crosswalk, what’s the difference? Burnouts in public are illegal nonetheless, but why is it worse if it’s on a crosswalk representing gay pride? The thing is, if the LGBTQ community wants equality, they gotta understand that they should be treated equally compared to heterosexuals (not all LGBTQ people are like that, for example FusterCluck (Blu Cepheus), TheR32Fangirl and SkyWilliams are amazing people in the gay community). Also for the LGBTQ jokes in the superstar world, as long as it’s just banter it’s totally fine. People like Idubbbz, Filthy Frank, Maxmoefoe, the TGT Crew (Clarkson, May and Hammond), heck even SkyWilliams have made jokes about it in the past. Are they necessarily homophobic? Not at all because it’s just banter and they don’t really mean it. My point is, some people in the LGBTQ community (not all, just some) need to understand that if they won’t let people do certain jokes or do certain things related to LGBTQ stuff, then they don’t want equality, they want privileges.

TheR32Fangirl (LGBTQ+) (TØPClique)

Thanks soooo much for the s/o btw.

What you (and most here) don’t seem to grasp, while I agree with the rest of what you said, is that the crosswalk was painted specifically to support LGBT, thus, a burnout on it can be easily interpreted as a gesture directed against the LGBT. What’s the point comparing it to normal crosswalks; do crosswalks somehow represent straight people ??? It’s kinda like burning the flag of a given country ; it’s directly addressed to a specific group of people.

Just to clarify the whole thing. Besides, the main point of the article was to address the discrete homophobia that’s sometimes seen in the car community, such as the hairdresser jokes. And no, saying ‘if they want to be equal they have to accept jokes’ is not a reason, because no one ever makes fun of someone for being straight… Jokes like that may seem harmless but it’s precisely why we see them as harmless that we car guys are understood as being insensitive to the LGBT.

Omfg u just saved me 10 minutes of typing tye same exact thing, thank you for being another level headed being in this comment section

Why everyone call other people as “homophobia” if they just don’t agree with LGBTQ etc etc + or just don’t like them? If I don’t like cheese you will call me cheesophobic?

For me it makes no difference if somebody is this or that. Just keep it for yourself for the same reason as I do not go on the streets and manifest that I have a girlfriend. Just leave people alone so they will stop care about hate to anything and it will release.

If gay people would want equality, they wouldnt have parades. I have nothing against them, but I don’t like it that they always have to show off about it.

What about patriots who celebrate their nation’s birthday? It’s not at all bad to show pride in something you hold dear

If I’m honest this burnout was most likely not of malicious intent and the crossing could easily have been cleaned and the burnt rubber removed. I do not understand why people are so sensitive these days because anything you say or do is going to offend someone and that is just pathetic, we need to be more tolerant of others regardless of whether they are homophobic or homosexual. I am good friends with someone who is homosexual and they are just like any other person. We don’t neeed pride marches because they make those who are homosexual look better than everyone else which is ironic considering that they are fighting for “equality” when those are not are censored since they have opinions. And no I am not against homosexuals, it’s just the way they go about perceiving themselves to the world. There are actual places in the world where those who are gay are being punished for it. We should be focusing more on them to give them rights…

Must end humans. Climate change is human’s fault.

North-Korea is probably planning that. Who knew they’d be the good guys :DDD

(null)

woah that’s racist

You should be scared of ISIS extremist. Not muslims.

Huskbaru (Sled dog) (Gaming squad) (Furry Squad)

Did they have permission to paint the crosswalk? If not then the burnout is acceptable and even if they did the driver could have let someone cross and then did a burnout. They happen all the time it’s just a coincidence where it happened in my opinion.

Wait wait. You’re saying if something’s done illegally you can do something illegal on it and you’ll be fine.

They had permission to do it otherwise they WOULDNT DO IT.

as a bi, this is disgusting to see and we live in a world of hate and terror, we will always prevail 💗

Yeah, we live in a hateful world that will never see true peace. But a potentially unintended burnout on a painted crosswalk isn’t disgusting. It’s such a small occurance that can easily be swept away with no trouble, but for some reason, people made a big deal out of it. That’s the truly disgusting thing. We have sunk so low that something as little as two stripes of rubber on the ground creates chaos.

I love the fact that, for us a burnout is a form of fun/celebration, but ti everyone else it is an act of vandalism because if the tire marks it leaves behind. That kid you mentioned may not have known what he’s done but the effect got magnified given the increasing presence of gay rights and so on. Thise are effects that (to my personal experience) has led them to feel entitled and above others because of their sexuality, causing them (and their vocal supporters) to become offended by the simplest of reasons. Was the burnout a good choice. Most certainly not, but in under many circumstances it would have been and even if it wasn’t there might not have been such a reaction. I have absolutely no problem with a person being homosexual but I cannot tolerate if they’re abusing it and I completely disagree with homophobia. There of course will be homophobic/racist petrolheads as well as gay ones, all we can do is show that even if they exist we do not aggree with the first ones, but there are cases like these that even the slightest and harmless act (intentionally or not) towards them leads them and all the people on the outside point the finger to all of us and in my opinion in such cases we cannot change their mind, because as always when ine person does something wrong, we’re all to be blamed…

Why is it that most people who blame someone of being homophobic are straight? I know some gay people and they are not nearly as quickly offended as some idiot PC correct dbag. Just look at the Hammond ice cream debate.