I have no gay pride.  I don't have gay hatred, either.  I simply don't care very much.  It's enough for me that our laws give people equal protection and most Americans no longer consider homosexuality a sin.  And that's probably enough for most people.  And I bet most people, like me, dislike the annual barrage of mandatory love for the LGBTQ+++ crowd and especially dislike the industry that's sprung up around confusing kids about their biological sex and then giving them expensive, mutilating surgery and toxic drugs.  These same people almost certainly don't make up NASCAR's fan base.  Corporate NASCAR, however, has decided to stand with the LGBTQ++ activists.

Last Sunday NASCAR held its All-Star Race at the Texas Motor Speedway.  There's a big NASCAR fan base in Texas.  If you go to the list of NASCAR tracks, you'll notice that the seating at the tracks is, on average, bigger in conservative states than in progressive states.  Thus, the Texas Motor Speedway seats 137,000 fans, while the Watkins Glen International in New York seats 33,000 fans.  The biggest track, in Indiana, seats 257,325 fans, while the track in Portland, Oregon holds only 30,000 fans.  It's not a perfect political alignment, but it's plenty close.

NASCAR fans are male, older (over 45), and White and live in the rural South or Midwest.  Oh, and they're much more likely to be Republicans.  These are, on average, people like me, who neither want to punish nor celebrate the LGBTQ+++ crowd and who support Texas's willingness to define as child abuse surgical and chemical "gender" treatments performed on children.

NASCAR, though, has been having a bit of a problem keeping fans.  Rising costs (fuel and lodging) making race attendance more expensive, commercials, alternative types of races, sometimes silly rule changes — all these are nibbling away at the key demographic.

Perhaps it was the search for a new demographic that saw NASCAR management (and, of course, the very woke FBI, which sent out 15 agents) have a complete emotional breakdown when Bubba Wallace claimed to have found a "noose" in his garage stall.  The "noose," as you know, was merely a rope pull that had been there for ages.  But for NASCAR's management, it was a chance to show that it cared.

Now, NASCAR's management is doing a different type of virtue-signaling.  With June upon us and the annual ritual of abasement before the LGBTQ+++ crowd having begun, NASCAR is apologizing for "recent actions" that didn't align with "NASCAR's mission to be a welcoming sport for all."

As we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, we acknowledge that recent actions have not aligned with NASCAR’s mission to be a welcoming sport for all.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to create a more inclusive environment -- in our workplaces, at the race track & in the stands. pic.twitter.com/r0h232xaXd

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 1, 2022

According to Breitbart, the best guess as to the basis for this apology is NASCAR having Greg Abbott wave the green flag at the All-Star Race as the honorary starter.

pic.twitter.com/vsGlpQwCv0

— Texas Motor Speedway (@TXMotorSpeedway) May 19, 2022

Immediately after, an AP reporter stated that NASCAR considered Abbott's presence at the race an error — presumably because, in common with a majority of Texans (and Americans), he opposes mutilating children in pursuit of gender fantasies.

If you're wondering how NASCAR can be so disconnected from its fan base, its management might offer some insight.  John Ferguson, its chief human resources officer, graduated with a B.A. from Furman in 2009, an "Executive Certificate of Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management" from Georgetown in 2019, and an MBA from Howard University in 2021.  In other words, he's steeped in academia, AKA wokeism.

In 2021, Steve Phelps, NASCAR's president (B.A., University of Vermont; MBA, Boston College), got a glowing review as a team member of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice.  Because of his leadership, the review applauded NASCAR's having "emerged as a leading voice in the national conversation on racial equality and social justice with Phelps rallying the NASCAR industry to reaffirm its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion."

I didn't spend time researching the other lead figures at NASCAR.  I'm just willing to bet none worked his way up but, instead, all are university-educated and from a different class from NASCAR's traditional fan base.  And in common with that wealthy, progressive class, NASCAR's management has put the gods of diversity, equity, and inclusion above their bottom line and their fan base.

Image: NASCAR's pride obeisance.