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| "If y'all think two dudes oughtta be able to get married if they want, gimme a hell yeah!" Photo Credit: WWE.com |
The truth of the matter is a lot of "heroes" in the entertainment and sports businesses believe in a lot of shitty things and aren't deserving of that mantel. Pro wrestling is no different. Most people within the business are not heroes, with the exception of maybe Diamond Dallas Page at this point. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is not a hero. He didn't play one on TV to be fair, but in his real life, he has a bunch of skeletons in his closet, most of them due to his piss-poor track record with women and domestic violence. That all being said, sometimes, celebrities come out with surprising and genuine moments of goodness. Austin, on a podcast he recorded and released months ago, had one of those moments of clarity regarding gay marriage, transcription courtesy of Barry Petchesky at Deadspin:
"I don't give a shit if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is, I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the goddamn world, that wants to be married, and if it's same-sex, more power to 'em." ...No one could have said it any better than Austin. I don't want to put Austin on a pedestal, although he seems to be learning his lesson and improving on his ghastly problems with married life. However, for an industry that struggles with social progressivism, having Austin come out for the gay community, of which at least one member is employed on the WWE main roster, is the best possible thing to happen. He's arguably the biggest star in wrestling history, and he's gotten it right on marriage equality.
... "What also chaps my ass, some of these churches, have the high horse that they get on and say 'we as a church do not believe in that.' Which one of these motherfuckers talked to God, and God said that same-sex marriage was a no-can-do?" ...
... "OK, so two cats can't get married if they want to get married, but then a guy can go murder 14 people, molest five kids, then go to fucking prison, and accept God and He's going to let him into heaven? After the fact that he did all that shit? See that's all horseshit to me, that don't jive with me."
Yet, for all the plaudits WWE receives for its platform on the issue, whether it be the amount of influence and power that Pat Patterson had (or still has) or its showering of acceptance towards Darren Young, the company just got off an entire two week period where it celebrated the life of an unrepentant homophobe. Then again, Austin coming out for marriage equality doesn't end homophobia the same way that the election of a black man as President didn't end racism. Everyone has a lot of work to do in this area. I just think having Steve Austin as an ally instead of another apathetic non-voice or even worse, another person who agrees with Warrior is a great start.