Last month, pro wrestler Mike Parrow came out to his fans and the world at large, and now he’s willing to publicly talk about his decision.
Today, he stopped by Good Morning Britain for an interview, opening up about his experiences in the public eye and what ultimately led him to come out.
“My mum was very Catholic,” he says, “and there was never any talk or anything about being gay.”
“It was just never brought up. In my hometown, we didn’t really have anybody that was gay. And everything that I saw on TV was nowhere close to who I was. So I did not want to be gay because everything that was represented was nowhere close to being me. So I kind of withheld that and I buried it… As a kid, I had no role models whatsoever to look up to…I was like, ‘There’s no way that there are other people like me. I am all by myself.’”
Related: Beefcake pro-wrestler Mike Parrow: “I’m gay”
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He reveals he even tried conversation therapy — and that’s what ultimately made him decide to come out:
“It was the first time I heard people had the same feelings that I did. Being there, I realized I am gay and that is not going to change. Because one of [conversion therapy’s] premises is that it’s a choice. It’s not a choice. You’re born this way. So right there, that’s a flawed philosophy…I’m not a doctor and I can’t prove that but I can tell you why I know [it isn’t a successful treatment].”
Elsewhere in the interview, he talks about other openly out athletes who have inspired him:
“There’s no role models for athletes because athletes tend to come out after they retire because of fear maybe of rejection, fear of different pay, fear of people just not accepting them for who they are. I’ve had the opposite. My career got better since I’ve come out because I know who I am.”
Watch:
Kieran
Mike Parrow is an American hero. It’s nice he’s being interviewed in Britain, but why aren’t we seeing him invited on American talk shows (the View, Fallon, Colbert, Conan, Ellen etc) telling his story and educating the public like this? Could it be he doesn’t fit the gay male stereotype the US media loves to promote? Could it be this type of gay man makes heteros uncomfortable and they’re far more comfortable dealing with a swishy, non-threatening stereotype?
Donston
When people say random sh*t like this it really does make the “toxic masculinity” and “fem-phobia” hype look legit.
He’s not on topline American talk shows because most of those talk shows avoid lgbtq drama. The shows you mentioned are as lite-weight as they come. Also, the dude is no where near famous. If there are some actual famous “non-stereotypical” men who want to come out, exhibit no gay shame and wish to legitimately tell their stories on broadcast national television I’m sure they’d be welcome. But those guys come around no more than once every decade.
Donston
Conversion therapy still pushes the “it’s a choice” motto? No wonder it’s losing momentum. Who you have substantial and persistent attraction, desire and passion for and feel genuine romantic feeling for and genuine romantic satisfaction with is not a choice. Even most right-wingers don’t bother arguing that any longer. Only “lifestyle” is a choice.
SiamSam
We’ll encourage people confused about their “gender” to get pumped full of hormones, silicone and have irreversible sexual organ amputations, but outlaw lying on a sofa listening to words. I think modern conversion therapy is useless in most cases but I don’t get the hostility and hatred it attracts. The suicide rate among transsexuals does not change after “transitioning” yet it’s conversion therapy we’re meant to question as fundamentally flawed?
Zumbando
One reason in the US SiamSiam is that VP Mike Pence diverted funds in Indiana from needle programs with proven success to conversion therapy. Also free rehab (not much of that) run by evangelicals often require it.
Donston
SiamSam, I’m trying to figure out what your post has to do with mine. If you actually comprehended my post properly you’d get that my point wasn’t really about conversion therapy itself but the uselessness of depending on “it’s a choice” to change people. It’s idiotic for that to be the backbone of the conversion since if an individual felt that way they wouldn’t be going to conversion therapy in the first place. People change lifestyles and identities everyday without any therapy. If someone feels as if they need to indulge conversion therapy to change who they are/commit to a different lifestyle telling them “it’s a choice” is very unlikely to help.
The only real issue I have with conversion therapy is when it’s administered to minors. I’m also not entirely a proponent of the “born this way” thing. It can be the case for some people. But for many others orientation is a mix of physiology, psychology, sense of gender and environment. I’m a supporter of gaining complete self-understanding, understanding the dimensions and degrees of your attractions, arousals, desires, passions, romantic instincts, romantic satisfaction and sense of gender, understanding the motivations behind your behaviors, being honest with yourself about all those things and finding a way to live a healthy life from a mental and ego standpoint.
You also have no idea what my opinions on transitioning are.
SiamSam
Gender is a social construct, sexuality is a spectrum, identity is fluid, humans emerge a blank slate BUT you are born gay and that’s that!
GayEGO
Excellent! I asked my mother when I was 13 why she took me to the hospital at night when I was a baby. I told her I remember darkness, sudden bright lights, white uniforms, and the smell of ether. She looked at me like I was crazy, and told me the only time she took me to the hospital is when I was born. I also remember being in a crib at the hospital afterwards and a man and women stopped by to look at me. I had an attraction to the man. While I was growing up, in Idaho, I had several incidences with boys. I went into the Navy and found out about gays, decided to live my life as who I am, met my lifetime partner of 56 years, married going on 14 years in Massachusetts. Because I remember when I was born, I have not changed, I was born gay and it is definitely not a choice.
Rex Huskey
it’s the hair plugs that gave it away. just saying