Sonny Kiss Talks LGBTQ Representation In AEW

AEW star Sonny Kiss joined The Sessions with Renee Paquette to talk about the growth of LGBTQ wrestlers in the current wrestling landscape. Sonny Kiss, who is gender fluid, talked about the changes made towards making wrestling more inclusive for LGBTQ wrestlers since she debuted in 2013.

"It's definitely a lot better in the 2020's from the last decade to now," Kiss said. "I definitely think it's a lot better. When I came in in 2013, it was definitely not like that. It was still progressing, it wasn't that bad but it's gotten progressively better over the last decade for sure. And I think with people like myself, Nyla (Rose), (Anthony) Bowens, Leyla (Hirsch), Kiera (Hogan), Diamante, Aubrey (Edwards), I can name them all. Sonya Deville, Jake Atlas. Everybody's been kind of chipping at the wall and being all 'we're going to break this wall down. 'I feel that's kind of what it is."

Paquette later asked Sonny Kiss what the key is to booking LGBTQ talent. Kiss responded by saying the best way is to let talent be themselves and give them the opportunity to keep a dialog with fans by appearing onscreen.

"Just letting them be then," Kiss said. "Letting everyone be themselves, I think is obviously the best way to call it. Because people, as far as storylines, feel like it has to push the envelope. And I feel it doesn't have to. You can have a storyline with an openly gay male and a cis gender straight male and still being cool. When you look at Bowens on TV, you don't think of Bowens as the gay wrestler. He's just Anthony Bowens. You don't look at Leyla and even identify her really. They don't go to that immediately. I feel just kind of like letting everybody just be them. Even with me, I pitch storylines all the time that isn't about my sexuality, it isn't about the way I look. It's just straight up ideas that will keep me in dialog with the fans.

"It's more about being used. I can't really do it if I'm not really being used. But it's just more about being seen by the audience, being in dialog with them. Hopefully with this year coming I'll be able to get opportunities and hopefully I'll be able to tell those stories and be in dialog with them, and give them a presentation from my point of view."

While Sonny Kiss isn't featured heavily on AEW Rampage or AEW Dynamite, she made sure to point out that she thought AEW was doing a good job at allowing diversity to be seen, especially with their LGBTQ talent. She is also determined on working on making sure she gets more TV time.

"I want to definitely say that I love being at AEW," Kiss said. "And I think that it's awesome AEW allows all it's LGBTQ talent to be themselves and allows everyone in the company to embrace that. And the company does embrace it. Tony Khan is a brown man, Meagha is a brown women. They are being inclusive and allowing diversity to be seen for sure. I definitely want to make that statement. I'm just saying I can't tell my own stories if I'm not shown. We'll work on that."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Sessions with Renee Paquette and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription