TAMPA, Fla. — The LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network, founded by Pasco County resident Bobby Loy, aims to connect and educate members of the LGBTQ+ community who work in the industry and may feel isolated due to the nature of the job.

What You Need To Know

  • Pasco resident Bobby Loy created the LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network Facebook page to build community for those who may feel isolated on the road

  • The page offers social connection and job-related resources

  • The network has also branched out to offer guidance on LGBTQ-friendly companies and also has a memorial program that reaches out to families of drivers who die while on the road
  • The network was a vendor at this year's Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.

"When you're driving on the highway, you see the trucks pass you, and when you see those trucks pass you, you don't instantly think about an LGBTQ person driving a semi-truck," said Loy. "So, I got my own education when going into trucking."

Loy told Spectrum News he became a truck driver along with his husband about six years ago after a 16-year career in nursing. He said he learned the road can offer a "bubble" of sorts for members of the LGBTQ community.

"They transition on the truck — they recover from surgeries on the truck," he said. "So, trucking gives a whole other avenue to people for a lot of different reasons."

Loy created a Facebook page as a way to offer social connection and other resources for truck drivers and their families. Posts include photos and videos of Loy's travels — he said he covers thousands of miles every month — as well as notices about upcoming job fairs and other resources to help people find work in the industry.

Loy said he considers himself fortunate to work for XPO Logistics and Cliffside Transportation Services. He displays a rainbow "XPO Pride" logo on his truck.

"A lot of companies are not there yet, and they won't hire you," he said.

Loy said the network's "LGBTQ Vetted" effort is meant to identify LGBTQ-friendly companies and offer training to businesses that want to be more inclusive. 

"I won't say it's friendly to LGBTQ, but I will say it's growing and it's changing," Loy said of the industry. "There's so many people out here that you wouldn't think of beyond LGBTQ. You know, you have grandmas and grandpas out here, selling off their big house and they're going across the country seeing all the states and getting paid to do it.

"I've met young people just turning 21, and they're coming out and they're out here getting their CDL and being active, and it's a good way to make money. It's a good way to know that you have a secure future."

The network itself may be a sign of that change. Earlier this year, the group was a vendor at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. Loy said it was the first time an LGBTQ-focused vendor took part in the event.

"All of the stuff that we were giving away was gone by the second day," he said. "All we could get were people coming up repeatedly over and over, saying, 'Thank you. It's been 50 years, and it's past time that someone shows up and supports all of us.'"

"But then what happened even there was an educational moment, because it was dispatchers and brokers," he continued. "I was just thinking about drivers, I wasn't thinking farther out. But all these people, a wide, diverse group of people, was coming up and thanking us for just being there.

"So, it makes you feel good about what you're doing. Just giving visibility and just being out there. You know, a lot of people, the first question they ask me is basically, 'Why do you have to shove it in my face?' It's not any of that. I want people to just be proud of who they are. We're doing a job like everyone else, and I just enjoy what I do."