For the first time in pro wrestling, an active roster superstar as come out as gay. Fred Rosser, better known to his WWE fans as Darren Young, came out in an impromptu interview at LAX with TMZ today. The 29 year old World Wrestling Entertainment superstar was asked if he thought a gay wrestler could be successful within the WWE organization. Young's (Rosser's) answer stunned the cameraman as well as the WWE Universe.
"Absolutely. Look at me. I'm a WWE Superstar and, to be honest with you, I'll tell you right now, I'm gay, and I'm happy. Very happy."
The cameraman went on to ask if this was Darren Young's coming out.
"I guess if you want to call it 'coming out,' I really don't know what
to say it is," he said. "I'm just letting you know that I'm happy -
who I am, I'm comfortable with myself, and I'm happy to be living the
dream ... Some people might not like it. Some people will like it. I'm
here to please myself. I'm here to be happy ... I'm hoping to make a
difference. It's very important to me to make people understand that someone's sexual preference shouldn't really matter. It should be about the person."
Fred Rosser began wrestling professionally in 2002 and was hired by the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) in 2005 where he began to wrestle under the stage name Darren Young. In 2012, Young joined forces with fellow wrestler Titus O'Neil to form the tag team, The Prime Time Players, who are currently still very much a part of the WWE's active roster.
After Young's announcement hit the Internet, wrestling websites and forums exploded with the news. A representative from the WWE released a statement in support of Young and of equality in general.
"WWE is proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality, and we
will continue to support him as a WWE Superstar," read a statement sent
to The Huffington Post Thursday. "Today, in fact, Darren will be
participating in one of our Be A Star anti-bullying rallies in Los
Angeles to teach children how to create positive environments for
everyone regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation."
This whole story has made me so excited. I LOVE the WWE and, while I'm not a huge fan of Darren Young as a wrestler, I'm so proud of him for letting his fans know more of who he really is outside the ring. Young coming out will help pave the way for other professional wrestlers as well as other pro athletes. Not to mention, the WWE publicly showing their support is huge news of its own. You always want to hope your favorite organizations support equality and aren't bigots, but it's always great when you get confirmation :)
The news of Young's coming out has also been released over the WWE's website and fellow WWE superstars and alumni alike have been tweeting out their support.
Regardless if you like pro wrestling or not, this is still huge news for the LGBT Community in the world of pro sports in general. Way to go Darren Young!
Here is the link of the Huffington Post article and video of Darren Young's coming out.
Below I've also included the link for the WWE's Be A Star Program that Young was mentioned being a part of if you want to know more about it. It's a pretty great program!
https://community.wwe.com/diversity/programs/be-star
https://community.wwe.com/diversity/programs/be-star
