The coronavirus threat did not stop pro wrestler Mike Parrow from keeping the date to marry his longtime boyfriend Morgan Cole on Saturday. Parrow shared photos from the event in a post on social media.
Parrow came out as gay in late 2017. At the time, he said: “My mum was very Catholic, 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.’”
Parrow tried gay conversion therapy at one time, which ironically was what prompted him to come out – because he felt community for the first time with other gay people: “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 doesn’t work].”
Parrow also talked about gay athletes and how his life has changed for the better: “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.”
