WWE Commits To More LGBT Characters, ‘Cause Dropkicks Don’t Discriminate

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Published

August 11, 2016

WRASSLIN’.

It’s just about as timeless and simple as sport can get: for just as long as humans have existed, we’ve basically felt the urge to hurl others around for fun and profit.

That primal, burly calling doesn’t discriminate, but that hasn’t stopped a fair few members of society being underrepresented between pro wrestling’s ropes. That’s a problem WWE now intends to fix.

Speaking at an event in New York, WWE’s chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon discussed the steps the company will take to bolster their ranks with LGBT characters.

Specifically, McMahon revealed the industry juggernaut will “integrate LGBT characters into our programming,” going so far as to say she thinks there “will be an opportunity to integrate some of those storylines in the near future.”

While that fuckin’ gr8 announcement alone signals a desire for the scene to become more inclusive for queer performers and fans, McMahon also detailed how a collaboration with GLAAD will bolster the organisation’s writing room.

In a frankly fantastic development, she said GLAAD were invited to “speak to our entire writing team and give a whole tutorial on sensitivities, the right words, the wrong word [and] why those words matter.

I think that with their guidance and support, we will be able to portray that [LGBT storyline] appropriately.”

In recent years, the organisation has provided a platform for LGBT performers – but it hasn’t always been fault-free.

A 2015 tour to the United Arab Emirates – a nation famous for its homophobic laws – forced the WWE to leave their first openly gay wrester Darren Young in the States “for his own protection.”

Young – real name Fred Rosser – questioned that stance, suggesting the organisation had chosen profits over his ability to live and work, as a gay man, as per usual.

My freedom of speech is gone. Gone but not forgotten.

— nodaysoff D-Young (@DarrenYoungWWE) February 11, 2015

I feel like no none has my back and it upsets me. The struggle is real. I’m human.

— nodaysoff D-Young (@DarrenYoungWWE) February 11, 2015

While Young may be the first out bloke to don the spandex for the WWE, McMahon also spoke about the first Inter-Continental Champ Pat Patterson, who came out as gay in his retirement to great industry support.

She said “from the beginning of his career he had to hide that” from the world at large, “but now it’s about getting that [LGBT] message out there.”

We hope so. The brave / crazy men and women who thrash their bodies for our entertainment should only have to fake defeat, not their bloody sexualities.

Source: NBC / Washington Post.

Photo: JP Yim / Getty.