{"id":94885,"date":"2021-06-26T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=94885"},"modified":"2021-06-26T11:50:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T15:50:30","slug":"darren-young-lgbtq-wrestlers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/06\/26\/darren-young-lgbtq-wrestlers\/","title":{"rendered":"How Darren Young Opened the Door for LGBTQ Wrestlers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When fans think about wrestlers who changed the industry, they\u2019re likely to think about megastars like <strong>Hulk Hogan<\/strong> and <strong>\u201cStone Cold\u201d Steve Austin<\/strong>, pioneering technical wrestlers like <strong>The Dynamite Kid<\/strong> and <strong>Ricky Steamboat<\/strong>, or perhaps female wrestlers like <strong>Gail Kim<\/strong> and<strong> Awesome Kong<\/strong>, who showed modern audiences that women could be a lot more than \u201cDivas\u201d who fought in bra-and-panties matches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The name Fred Rosser III doesn\u2019t usually come to mind. But it probably should, because in one brief moment, Rosser changed the wrestling industry forever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rosser, who\u2019s best-known to WWE fans as Darren Young, has had something of a journeyman\u2019s career in wrestling. He was part of the first season of NXT, back when it was a reality competition, alongside the likes of <strong>Daniel Bryan<\/strong>, <strong>Wade Barrett<\/strong>, and Skip Sheffield, aka <strong>Ryback<\/strong>. He later became part of the Nexus faction, and would also enjoy a brief Tag Team Championship run with Titus O\u2019Neil as the Prime Time Players.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not a bad career, but also not one you think of when you think of industry-changing performers. But that\u2019s exactly what he did in 2013 with a brief, two-and-a-half-minute<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/videos\/0-1dxfgye4\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> interview with TMZ<\/a>, when he came out as gay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During that interview, the reporter, who was likely just hanging around LAX airport in Los Angeles to see who he could talk to, approached Young and asked him if a gay person could ever be successful in wrestling or MMA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE Wrestler Says He&#039;s Gay: Darren Young Tells TMZ in Video &#039;I&#039;m Gay and I&#039;m Happy&#039;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8_kjMTAgp3I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Young said. \u201cLook at me. I\u2019m a WWE Superstar and&#8230;I\u2019m gay.\u201d Young seemed to catch the reporter off guard with the comment, but with that, Darren Young changed wrestling. Because while it might not seem like a big deal today, it made Young the first wrestler to publicly come out while under contract to a major American wrestling company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the time of Young\u2019s coming out, there was barely any LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream wrestling. WWE had in the recent past featured angles like\u00a0 Billy and Chuck\u2019s \u201cgay wedding,\u201d as well as the \u201clesbian stalker\u201d angle between <strong>Mickie James<\/strong> and <strong>Trish Stratus<\/strong>. The same way LGBTQ+ characters were often treated as a joke or a source of derision in mainstream pop culture, so has the \u201cgay\u201d character often been used as a way to get heel heat on straight wrestlers, going back to the likes of \u201cExotic\u201d <strong>Adrian Street<\/strong> in the UK, or <strong>Goldust<\/strong>, a character that started out by using his assumed sexuality to \u201cintimidate\u201d his straight opponents.\u00a0 In modern terms, both would be considered &#8220;queer coded villains&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But LGBTQ+ wrestlers have always been part of the wrestling business, even if they weren\u2019t \u201cout.\u201d In fact, LGBTQ wrestlers have had a tremendous influence on the industry, in the past and the present, and the impact these men and women have had on the business will surely be felt well into the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>LGBTQ+ Wrestlers an Open Secret<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the best examples is Pat Patterson. After being kicked out of his Montreal home in the 1950s by his parents after coming out to them, Patterson became a highly respected wrestler, both in tag teams and as a singles competitor, and worked for companies like the NWA, the AWA, and NJPW.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, he\u2019s best known for his WWF run, becoming <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/12\/02\/pat-patterson-passes-away\/\" target=\"_self\">the first Intercontinental Champion<\/a> (while being managed by another closeted performer, \u201cThe Grand Wizard,\u201d Ernie Roth) and later transitioning into a backstage role as a road agent and Vince McMahon\u2019s right-hand man. One of his signature accomplishments was his creation of, and for many years the booking of, the Royal Rumble match, still one of WWE\u2019s most popular annual events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patterson came out within the wrestling industry in the 1970s, and despite the occasional on-air joke by color commentators like Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Ross, it didn\u2019t seem to adversely affect his career. He came out publicly in 2014, a year after Young did, on the WWE reality show <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legends\u2019 House.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>There are of course many other LGBTQ+ performers who made waves, names like\u00a0<strong>Sandy Parker\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Babe Sharon <\/strong>deserve mentions.\u00a0 Although in the case of both Parker and Sharon they were open about their orientation as opposed to Patterson who was more reserved during his career.<\/p>\n<h3>Tragic Story<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Patterson\u2019s is mostly a positive story, there are also the tragic ones, such as that of Chris Kanyon. An innovative ring technician and good on the mic, Kanyon never seemed to break out of mid-card status in WCW (not that unusual, given how WCW booked talent at the time), and he also seemed to flounder in WWE. According to his posthumously-released book, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wrestling With Reality<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Kanyon pitched WWE creative on the idea of wrestling as an openly gay wrestler, but his idea was turned down. Whether or not WWE realized that Kanyon was actually gay and had just come out to them is unclear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Kanyon was released from WWE in 2004, he accused the company of firing him for being gay. WWE denied the accusation, and he later retracted it.\u00a0 Kanyon bounced around the indies over the next few years and even retired a couple of times. He <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/04\/03\/chris-kanyon-death\/\" target=\"_self\">also struggled with bipolar disorder<\/a>, which he wasn\u2019t diagnosed with until he attempted suicide in 2003. Sadly, he succeeded in taking his life several years later, in 2010.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On his <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talk Is Jericho <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">podcast, Chris Jericho lamented that Kanyon felt like he couldn\u2019t be himself, especially considering how, in his words, \u201cnobody cares about that stuff today.\u201d Kanyon will be remembered as a great wrestler, but whose struggles with his mental health and sexual identity ended his life far too young.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rosser, too, says he was terrified that he had just made a career-ending mistake by coming out to TMZ. But according to him, he received a great deal of support from his WWE colleagues, including Randy Orton, The Big Show, Mark Henry, and Titus O\u2019Neil. He said that Vince McMahon even called to commend him for his bravery in coming out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Young was eventually released from WWE in 2017, he\u2019s continued to work around the world for companies like <strong>CHIKARA,<\/strong> New Japan, and the NWA. Today, there are a number of LGBTQ+ performers in WWE, including <strong>Sonya Deville<\/strong>, <strong>Toni Storm<\/strong>, and <strong>J<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>ake Atlas\u00a0<\/strong>among others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-76126 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/09\/effy-big-gay-brunch.jpg\" alt=\"EFFY's Big Gay Brunch Poster\" width=\"600\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/09\/effy-big-gay-brunch.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/09\/effy-big-gay-brunch-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also a number of openly LGBTQ+ wrestlers flourishing outside of WWE: among them are<strong> Sonny Kiss<\/strong>, <strong>Anthony Bowens<\/strong>, and <strong>Nyla Rose<\/strong> in AEW, and\u00a0<strong>ASUKA\/Veny<\/strong> (not to be confused with WWE\u2019s Asuka), a prolific genderless wrestler in Japan.\u00a0 \u00a0The independent wrestling scene is also having its own LGBTQ+ revolution led by names like <strong>Effy\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Edith Surreal<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rosser has stated that he hopes to return to WWE, but whether or not Darren Young ever appears again,\u00a0 it\u2019s still worth remembering that in one brief airport interview with TMZ, Fred Rosser III helped to break down the walls in mainstream professional wrestling.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When fans think about wrestlers who changed the industry, they\u2019re likely to think about megastars like Hulk Hogan and \u201cStone Cold\u201d Steve Austin, pioneering technical wrestlers like The Dynamite Kid and Ricky Steamboat, or perhaps female wrestlers like Gail Kim and Awesome Kong, who showed modern audiences that women could be a lot more than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3801,"featured_media":75113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,2192],"tags":[1658,7006,7807],"class_list":["post-94885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wrestling","tag-darren-young","tag-lgbtq-wrestling","tag-pride-month"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3801"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}