DEI: Part 1
Hate is a four-letter word.
The United States of America is a complicated and divided place. It is growing more hostile to people who are ‘different,’ a real accomplishment considering our history. Hate has been spreading rampantly. Baseball isn’t America’s pastime. Marginalizing those who aren’t ‘like us’ is.
It needs to stop.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is:
“the symbiotic relationship, philosophy and culture of acknowledging, embracing, supporting, and accepting those of all racial, sexual, gender, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, among other differentiators.”
Motorcycle enthusiasts can lead the way.
We all have differing opinions on the best motorcycle and can argue constantly about it. We can all agree, however, that interest in two-wheel motoring is waning. Excluding people doesn’t seem like the right strategy to increase ridership. We need to foster a more inclusive environment to have a larger population to argue with about which motorcycle is best or poke fun at the GS owners adventuring to their closest Starbucks.
Where should we start?
LGBTQIA+
You cannot tell gender expression or sexual orientation of someone riding a motorcycle in a one-piece textile suit and full-face helmet. Why would you even want to? Even if you could, it shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.
There are more people in the LGBT (using shortened acronym for brevity) community than you may realize. According to this 2022 Gallup article, over 20% of Gen Z adults and 10% of Millenials identify this way. I don’t think the population is growing. Folks are just getting more comfortable being honest with who they are. These numbers are likely low as closeted people are probably not going to answer the survey truthfully.
Imagine if we could capture a fraction of that 20% and bring them into our hobby. Let’s show every young adult in the LGBT community how outstanding motorcycles are. Start them young. Expose them to motorcycles. Create social media content combining motorcycles and things they care about. You don’t have to dress up in drag to promote motorcycles like Pattie Gonia does for environmental issues. That might be seen as pandering and coming up with a cool drag name that isn’t already taken could prove difficult.
Luckily, there is another way. We can recruit into the hobby by advocating for the LGBT community, a group that is actively under attack.
Some issues appear small on the surface. In California, Huntington Beach City Council voted to no longer fly a rainbow flag during Pride Month. While there is more to the language, the consensus is that flag rules changed because the rainbow flag was divisive to the community. How could a flag that represents inclusivity be divisive?
Nearly 400 state-level anti-LGBT bills for 2023 legislation session are being tracked by the ACLU. These include bills aiming to restrict or outright ban drag shows, same-sex marriage, gender affirmation treatments and free speech. Florida passed the ‘Don’t say Gay’ bill last year and they aren’t done. At least six more bills have passed in other states since. The number of bills is staggering. One is too many.
I do not understand why people are so invested in, and challenged by, how others identify. That’s not really true. I do understand. It is more than the fear of ‘other.’ I’ll just leave this quote here.
“The things people hate about others are the things that they fear within themselves”
House of Harley-Davidson Pride Patch
Harley Davidson has dabbled in support for the LGBT community. The Motor Company joined the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and increased their support to ‘Platinum Founding Member’ status in 2016. House of Harley-Davidson has taken part in, and subsidized, the Ride with Pride event in Milwaukee since 2018.
They cannot do it all. People should not rely on companies for it at all. It takes people to change the culture.
There are some openly gay groups out there. Empire City MC has been around for a long time (1964). MCs, Orgs and rider associations hae themes and theirs is to be gay. Having groups like these are not inherently bad but they are not exactly the direction we should be going. This group shouldn’t need to exist. You can point to Empire City and say motorcycle culture is inclusive but being a segregated group, is it? Let’s relegate ‘separate but equal’ to the history books.
I wear rainbows out in public. It isn’t much and easy to do as I have no fear of repercussions for my clothing choices. I am a tall, 220lb, white, big-bearded, cis male. Who is going to come at me with some lip? Nobody has yet. A woman approached me and to call me a Care Bear before. I don’t think that counts.
So why am I hesitant to put rainbow stickers or a flag on my motorcycles?
I am afraid of returning to a parking lot to find it laying on its side, kicked over by someone offended by inclusivity. I don’t want to deal with picking the bike back up or dealing with the damage. Bullies love to pick on people who they perceive as weaker and/or isolated. A single motorcycle in a parking lot plastered in rainbows is an easy target. So can be a person with the audacity to express their true self in public.
Motorcyclists gather in large numbers and look out for of their own. We could start showing up at LGBT rallies or pride parades like we do to Sturgis or Daytona. If we show our overwhelming support for the LGBT community and have their backs, the world would be a different place. A bully would think twice about targeting someone they perceive as alone and vulnerable.
LGBT folks do not need saving nor are motorcyclists their saviors. Far from it. They do need support. Just as a lone person is vulnerable in public, a group of people is vulnerable to marginalization by hate-driven rhetoric and hateful people in government office.
Joining forces could benefit everyone involved. There would be more motorcyclists and we could all collectively fight laws intended to eliminate human rights in state legislatures. You want late splitting legal? How about no more helmet laws? We can start with tackling real problems like defeating drag bans and ensuring our trans friends have the freedom to transition first. The rest is icing on the rainbow cake.
We need to be advocates for real change. Imagine something like B.A.C.A. meets The Trevor Project and how much good it could do for us all.
What is stopping us?
Are you afraid that someone might question your orientation for associating with or including the LGBT community? Ask yourself why that is a problem for you.
Our collective egos, prejudices and phobias are in the way. We need to work harder to shake biker stereotypes from the past. I’m not suggesting biker bars have a gay night or a gay bar have a bike night. Not yet. You may run into someone wearing leather chaps at either bar, though. Something to think about.
I think we are drifting in the right direction of inclusivity. The openness of the younger generations certainly help but there are still a lot of toxic traits and beliefs being perpetuated. Toxicity is persistent. Settling for some compromising tolerance or lip-service won’t make it go away. We don’t need a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ for the motorcycle community. We need to champion people for who they are and not exclude them for it.
The motorcyclist’s battle cry is freedom. Why not freedom for all?
There are obviously other ways to help the community than getting them into motorcycles. This is a motorcycle-focused platform and it made sense to target the conversation in that direction. Call and write your members of Congress. Support organizations like The Trevor Project, Los Angeles LGBT Center and Global Action for Trans Equality. Use whatever platform you have to spread the word.
Differing Opinions and Real-World Experiences
Everyone’s opinions are different based on their experiences and influences. I solicited for participation in this conversation on social media. No takers yet. Asking here, too. Does the LGBT community feel supported by the motorcycle community? Am I way off base? What can we do to help? What can I do?
I also want to hear from everyone else who feels or has experienced exclusion from the motorcycle culture, as well. Let’s work together. Be the change.
Words Matter
I’ve been careful in my choice of language but it is a tad clunky for a couple reasons.
The first draft of this article referred to the folks with LGBTQIA+ association as the ‘queer community’ as I felt it made the article flow better. That word has a lot of history. It has been taken back from being a pejorative term or slur. Still, there are still folks out there who really don’t like it. I thought it best not to use it. Yes, I know what the Q in the acronym means.
I refer to LGBT folks as ‘they/them.’ This is not to distance my association from the community but to write from the perspective of a motorcyclist speaking about non-motorcyclists. We are all just people trying to be free.
Afterthoughts
If you are offended because I mischaracterized the plight of the LGBTQIA+ community, I apologize. If you are offended because you don’t believe people should be allowed to be who they are, I suggest you reflect on why that is. Drag shows aren’t making your kids gay. Same-sex marriage doesn’t involve you at all unless you are married to someone of the same sex. Someone else having civil rights isn’t treading on you.
I think it is time to put that rainbow sticker on my Goldwing. A sticker isn’t going to change the world but it is a start.
