With Pride festivals around the nation canceled or postponed, LGBTQ Nation is bringing the celebration to you with our new series “Flashes of Pride.” We’ll look back at some of our community’s finest moments from the past few years as a reminder that no matter what life throws our way, queer people will fight our way through it and dance when we hit the other side.
One of the most visible changes in how LGBTQ people are perceived is how queer athletes and fans are being welcomed and celebrated in professional sports.
Clubs are hosting Pride night events, hawking rainbow merchandise, donating to charities, and as more and more athletes come crashing out of the closet, they’re doing it in a big way.
Related: Parades might get canceled, but Pride never will be
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Sonya Deville became the first out lesbian to participate in Wrestlemania and to honor the moment, she wore a rainbow costume.
She said on Instagram that she was wearing a rainbow costume as a message to LGBTQ people: “I’m representing y’all.”
Sonya has been out for years, and she said that she hopes she can inspire others to come out.
“If I can help people in this process and be a voice to people who might be intimidated of coming out themselves or are scared to or think that it’s wrong and they see me doing it in front of pretty big people in the WWE world, hopefully it will give them the courage to do it,” she said.
Irish World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star Finn Balor made a memorable entrance in his first Wrestlemania in 2018, flanked by LGBTQ activists and sporting rainbow branding on his tight black shorts. Fans wore T-shirts with the logo and tagline “Bálor Club for Everyone.”
Balor is a straight ally.
I will forever love finn balor. #LGBT 🌈 #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/XyMWI8ksYG
— 🏴👑 Adam Goldberg 👑🏴 (@AdamGoldberg8) April 8, 2018
#BalorClub is for EVERYONE. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 #RAW #RAWAfterMania @FinnBalor pic.twitter.com/eAB0XERx7C
— WWE (@WWE) April 10, 2018
i've been watching wwe for 2+ decades and for so much of that time it would be just UNTHINKABLE for a wrestler to have something as simple as that finn balor LGBTQ pride entrance, and it makes me a tad emotional to see it now
— bossmoz (@BossMoz) April 8, 2018
@SonyaDevilleWWE OMG your #wrestlemania ring gear is AMAZING!!!!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
— Bobby Hensley 💖💜💙 (@bobbyh1295) April 8, 2018