Evan Darling, the
openly gay NASCAR driver, says he can relate to troubled gay
teens considering suicide.
In a 55-second It Gets Better video,
the landscaper-turned-race car driver hints at his own troubled
youth.
“I had an extremely difficult time in
my youth coming out to myself and others, but it definitely gets
better,” he says in the video uploaded on Wednesday. (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
“I knew I was attracted to men when I
was really young, seven or eight years old,” Darling told On Top
Magazine in a telephone interview. “I knew something was
different, something was wrong. I thought, 'Oh, it's just a phase.'”
But by the time he turned 14, Darling,
42, had confided his feelings to a friend of the family.
“I was able to talk about it and it
really helped me,” he said. “I mean, I think that pretty much
saved my life.”
The man who once dreamed about racing
cars now says he wants to help other teens struggling with their
sexuality. Darling is hoping to drive the circuit promoting The
Trevor Project, the California-based non-profit that runs the
nation's only 24-hour confidential suicide hotline for gay and
questioning youth.
“That resource is very special,” he
said. “I was able to talk to someone. If I didn't have that, I
don't know what I would have done.”
“Kids are out there and they are
brought up in these very conservative environments and they don't
have anyone to talk to or any resource where they can privately talk
to someone and not have to worry about someone finding out about them
when they're not comfortable with that. You know. it's a great
resource.”
A sagging economy and few sponsorship
deals, however, are threatening to sideline the 2005 SCCA SE Division
champion from racing in 2011.
President
Barack Obama, rocker
Adam Lambert and Fort
Worth Councilman Joel Burns are among the thousands that have
recorded similar encouraging messages to troubled gay teens.