Effy Reveals He’s Lost Bookings Due To Being Gay

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Effy revealed that he’s lost bookings during his career because he’s openly gay and vocal about it. Here are highlights:

On being an openly gay wrestler: “There’s peaks and valleys to it. First, when I wasn’t as vocal about my personal life but still very flamboyant and exaggerated in the wrestling world, a lot of southern bookers would bring me in. They weren’t thinking they were bringing in a homosexual, but someone with a gimmick. I kept my mouth shut a lot and then I started to kind of open my mouth and when people started showing up to shows who were more like me and LGBTQ, I felt more of a responsibility to be vocal about these things.”

On his decision to be more vocal: “Maybe it’s been a blessing. I might have thought it would be a curse at some point. But as far as the locker room, it’s been wonderful. You have your problems here and there, but most people are at ease confiding in you about their sexuality and hopefully I’ve been a blessing in that way.”

On if it’s cost him bookings: “Yeah and there’s also the expectation where if we’re gonna bring this gay guy in then let’s better do some gay stuff and put on a dress, wear some makeup and prance around. These are southern places. I got my start in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and I think they’re opening their eyes because money talks and fans are showing up.”

On wrestling becoming more inclusive: “For the most part it is genuine. I think the thing we’re dealing with now is for the longest time in pro wrestling you were told what to do by the person in charge and you clearly knew who was in charge. Now it’s very muddy as to who is in charge. You’ve got indie guys kinda doing whatever they want and promotions are booking them because they do whatever they want. You’ve got companies having to sign these exclusive deals with people to keep them and make sure they’re doing stuff they want. There’s a lot of creative stifling but for the people taking the effort in bringing them in, they’re seeing growth in the fan base. The fans are genuinely happy. The companies are genuinely happy. We’re all working together and nobody’s fully in charge except for the people paying the money.”

On comments he gets on social media: “Yeah, you get some stuff. Most of the negativity comes from people saying, ‘Well, you’ve talked about gay people and LGBTQ stuff. When are you gonna be done talking about that?’ Well, I’ll stop talking about it when we stop having problems. I’ll stop talking about it when trans people stop showing up murdered. I’ll stop talking about it when gay people can walk down the street and not get beat up. “Pro wrestling has to help it and they’re realizing it now. I see the change now. I think I’ve wrestled in 20 different states now…and when I look at the incremental change, it’s people coming up to you in the locker room. It’s queer people getting booked more. It’s seeing the faces that you wouldn’t expect to pop up, pop up. And that’s awesome to see. We now have the reach to get to people all over the place and at least say, ‘Hey, here’s our message. If you wanna be a part of this message, then bring us in and let’s do it. If not, that’s cool but you’re gonna lose out on money.’ That’s where you see the changes start to happen. When they bring you in and it makes a real difference at the door, they get to see, ‘Oh, we’ve been not booking queer talent and they could have been adding to our show? Or we’ve been not booking black talent and they could have really been adding to my show?’ We just have to show them every day.”