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| Pro wrestler Anthony Bowens comes out – again |
Professional wrestler Anthony Bowens has come out – again.
After coming out in 2017 as bisexual, Bowens now says he’s come to the point where the term doesn’t really apply to him today.
“It’s on to a new year, a new journey and, apparently, a new label,” says the hunky 28-year-old in a YouTube video titled ‘COMING OUT…again.’
“The main purpose of this video is to tell everybody that I prefer to be labeled now as gay,” he begins.
In advance of the reactions he’s bracing for, Bowens admits, “There’s going to be ‘thank you, it’s great that you’re being open and honest and we love you,’ there’s going to be the ‘well, we knew that,’ and there’s going to be the ‘bi now gay later’ people.”
The hunky wrestler says he initially identified as bisexual as he “didn’t know much about the LGBTQ community” and he had been attracted to both genders.
While he still advocates for bisexuality (‘100 percent’), Bowens says, “As you get older, your viewpoints change; the way you look at the world changes; the way you look at yourself changes.”
He shares that recently, in looking back at some old articles featuring him, he realized the word ‘bisexual’ was used over and over to describe him.
“It was kind of annoying me that they had to continually put what I was,” he lamented. “I couldn’t just be a professional wrestler, I was the ‘bisexual pro wrestler,’ but I just wasn’t identifying with that term any more.”
Bowens’ relationship with boyfriend Michael Pavano, who he met in 2016, also has impacted the way he views himself.
“I’m in love with Michael, I want to marry Michael, I’m picturing myself being with a man for the rest of my life, so the term ‘bisexual’ felt less and less me the more time went on,” he tells his YouTube audience. “And I now feel more comfortable labeling myself as ‘gay.’”
The athlete also stresses that he didn’t use the term ‘bisexual’ as a gateway to ‘gay.’ It’s just how life unfolded for him.
“There are some people out there who will use that just because they are afraid to say that they’re gay, but not everybody’s like that, and I don’t think they should be judged for it because everybody has their own way of figuring themselves out,” explains Bowen.
“Please don’t be a hypocrite,” implores Bowen. “I think it’s very hypocritical as people who identify as LGBT who get judged by a lot of people about our lifestyle, then turn around and judge others in the same community.”
Amen, Anthony.
You can watch ‘COMING OUT…again’ below.
