Racing is Everyone's Sport is partnering again with Stonewall's Rainbow Laces for a second year to show support for the LGBT+ community in racing. Started by Great British Racing in 2020 with support from the sport's Racing with Pride network, Racing is Everyone's Sport aims to encourage and welcome LGBT+ participation in the sport of horseracing, bringing the racing community together to champion inclusion for lesbian, gay, bi and trans people. The Stonewall Rainbow Laces campaign, Lace Up and Speak Up, will last from Nov. 25-Dec. 12. Jockeys and friends Jack Duern and Josephine Gordon discuss Jack's experience of coming out in 2013 and the importance of allyship for the LGBT+ community in this year's campaign.
Jockey Jack Duern (pronouns: he/him) said, “Racing has definitely come a long way since I came out in 2013. I'm proud to be the first openly gay jockey in Europe, and also proud of the racing community for accepting me for who I am and for welcoming me back into the sport. I'm determined to use my platform, and as an ambassador for Racing With Pride, to show other LGBT+ people, both in and out of racing, that they are not alone and that racing is everyone's sport.
“I hope that by talking to Josie about my experiences of coming out, as well as the importance of having friends and colleagues to support and speak up on your behalf, it will spark a conversation in the racing community that it is all of our responsibly to stand up for our friends and colleagues to show that discrimination has no place in racing.”
Additionally, on Saturday Dec. 4, Racing is Everyone's Sport will encourage and welcome LGBT+ participation in the sport through a series of activities at racecourses across the UK that day–Sandown Park, Aintree, Chepstow, Wolverhampton and Wetherby. For more details, please visit Great British Racing's website.
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