Acceptance Needs to Be All Encompassing: The Next Step for WWE and Darren Young

Young coming out of the closet has been anything but a non-issue
Photo Credit: WWE.com

I was pleasantly surprised last night when no mention at all was made of Darren Young's announcement that he had come out of the closet. The only change that was presented was that his in-character team, the Prime Time Players, had been positioned against heel opponents. All in all, WWE tread carefully and with tact, two modifiers that I would not have ever used to describe WWE's handling of a delicate social issue. I mean, they still think liberal use of feminine modifiers and words for weakness is super okay, and they still are tone deaf when it comes to racial issues for the most part.

Of course, WWE has famously been one of the most accepting companies for homosexual employees over its history. That distinction has been supported in two ways, the overwhelmingly positive public lauding that came from his bosses (Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and even Vince McMahon via Twitter) and his peers (John Cena and most importantly, his tag team partner Titus O'Neil), and the smug dismissal that has come from the likes of reporters like Dave Meltzer.

To Meltzer, who has had his ears backstage for so long that he may only be tuned into listening to the chatter behind the scenes, Young's announcement isn't a big deal because wrestling has been gay-friendly backstage for years. To him, the announcement is a non-issue, and if it were only reported on a personal level, then I could understand. But if you took a drink every time he shrugged it off as being a non-story or a non-issue in that article, depending on what you were imbibing, you could be drunk by now. Whom was Meltzer trying to convince that it wasn't a big deal? Maybe backstage, Young's coming out wasn't a huge issue, but internally announcing his sexuality wasn't the issue.

See, out of character, WWE has a great track record (unless you believe that Chris Kanyon was bullied internally for his sexuality, in which case maybe that track record is checkered), but in character, whoo-boy, it's a whole different ballgame. When The Rock is gay-baiting for pops, when Chuck and Billy were the last earnest attempt at WWE trying a gay character, when the company's fans have been geared towards cheering for masculine heterosexual hyper men and to boo the shit out of anything remotely gay, it doesn't matter what the climate in the locker room is. The fans are the ones that need to change.

All the above is why WWE's work has just been started. That's why Meltzer is dead dog wrong that this is a non-issue. WWE is already facing blowback from shithead Internet commenters, who for better or worse, represent a portion of the fanbase that needs to be converted. We all laugh at these trolls, but at least anecdotally, for every one awful YouTube commenter, there are probably three or four people I know in real life who tend to say the same things, except with more flowery language and fewer curse words.

Embracing Young's announcement was only the start. The next and most vital step is for WWE to start embracing gay characters not as stereotypes, but as people whose sexuality is but one part of them, and a minor one at that. The Rock can't be allowed to come back and basically say that his adversary is less of a person because he prefers what men have instead of pie. In fact, no one should be allowed to do that. WWE has to go whole hog with this or else Young's announcement will have been for naught.

Again, WWE has the opportunity to be ahead of the curve. If they treat Young's announcement as much of a non-issue as Meltzer is straining to make his readers believe, then they will have failed the gay community, themselves, and especially Young, the one with the bravery to announce his sexuality to a country that still needs some cajoling into believing that his sexuality isn't any of their goddamn business in the least.