Darren Young, whose real name is Fred Rosser, came out a little over a week ago in low-key fashion after a TMZ reporter asked him in an airport how the WWE would respond to an openly gay performer.
Young took the opportunity to out himself as the first active wrestler to be openly gay, and he was greeted with waves of support from the company, from big stars like Triple H and John Cena, to departed personalities like ESPN's Jonathan Coachman.
Following the back-pats, though, the wrestling world as well as the gay community had its eyes trained on WWE to see how they'd handle Young going forward. Professional wrestling after all is a macho, male-dominated industry in which homosexuality was almost exclusively as a gag.
The best examples of traditional usage of homosexuality are former wrestler Dustin Rhodes who wrestled as Goldust, and the tag team of Billy and Chuck, Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo.
Goldust was a bizarre character, who wore a tight latex-looking gold and black body suit, often rubbing himself against his opponents or making sexual innuendos at them in an effort to unnerve them and derail their focus. He was often called a "freak" on the air.
Billy Gunn before joining up with Palumbo was known as "Mr. A-s," a somewhat homoerotic character in its own right. With Billy and Chuck, however, the team was "openly" gay. Both Gunn and Palumbo are straight men off camera, however.
As for Young, his real life personality hasn't seeped into the character just yet. He has remained with the same gimmick, but looks like he's getting a push from the WWE powers that be. Young is fresh off two straight wins-one on Monday Night Raw and one on Smackdown.
On Raw, Young teamed with Titus O'Neil; together they are the "Prime Time Players." Those two knocked off a strong team consisting of Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro. Then, on Smackdown, Young competed in singles action against Cesaro again and earned a victory.
Young's admission raised his profile in a big way, and the latest push for him might seem like a cheap ratings ploy. However Young has been a solid performer for some time now, and the revelation of his sexuality may have been the pop culture break he needed.
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