‘You Shouldn’t Be Scared Of Being Real, Telling The Truth’: Pro Wrestler Matt Cage Comes Out As Gay

“To anyone who has ever been scared of just being real and telling the truth, you shouldn’t be,” Cage explained in his post on Facebook when he announced he was gay. 

Matthew Hullum, an independent pro wrestler from LaSalle, Illinois, just came out as gay with a long post on Facebook. Hullum, who goes by the stage name of “Money” Matt Cage, detailed how one of his biggest fears in life was rejection, and according to Outsports, he figured his story “could be a motivation to others in similar situations.”

In a bold statement, Cage explained, “To anyone who has ever been scared of just being real and telling the truth, you shouldn’t be. Yes, I was. But if the people you care about, or even those you don’t, are good people, it won’t matter…the way it SHOULD be.”

Cage also detailed his fears of rejection:

“One of the biggest fears in my life has been rejection. I’m not sure why. I was never the most popular kid in school or in my neighborhood, but I always had a plethora of friends in many different cliques. I was never really rejected by anyone that I hung out with in one clique for hanging out with people in another, yet I always feared being rejected. But as I’ve grown older and continued down the road of adulthood, I have discovered that I truly don’t care as much about rejection anymore. And I why should I? My friends will like me for me, flaws and all. My family will love me for me. My peers will respect me for my work. And complete strangers can think whatever they want, because they’re strangers and they don’t know me.

That being said, it makes it much easier to post here publicly that I’m gay.” See the full statement here.

So far, the response to Cage’s announcement has been overwhelmingly positive (as can be seen on his Facebook page), which may have a lot to do with more and more sports figures like Jason Collins, Robbie Rogers, Michael Sam, etc. slowly trickling out of the closet.

Before Cage, Darren Young made headlines when he became the first openly gay person in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after he came out in an impromptu interview with TMZ back in 2013. Even though the WWE is scripted, his coming out still helped pave the way for other LGBT sports professionals. Earlier this month, Young became a WWE superstar when he and Titus O’Neil won the tag team championship title at the company’s “Money in the Bank” pay-per view event.

Wrestling seems to be one of the more accepting and tolerant sports. The WWE, which is very LGBT friendly, has a STAR (Show Tolerance And Respect) program to combat bullying. According to their website, the STAR toolkit has been downloaded by more than 4,000 students across the country and over 30,000 people from all 50 US states and from 91 international countries have taken the pledge to end bullying through the program.

 

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