WWE Legend Pat Patterson Dead at 79, First Gay Wrtlg Superstar

Contents:

• PAT PATTERSON, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO WRTLG STAR, HAS DIED AT 79
• WWE HALL OF FAMER PAT PATTERSON, 1ST GAY SUPERSTAR PANY, DI AT 79
• PAT PATTERSON WAS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO WRTLER — SI THE LATE STAR'S PERSONAL LIFE
• WWE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY WRTLER PAT PATTERSON SADLY PASS AWAY
• PAT PATTERSON WAS THREATENED WH DEPORTATN FOR BEG GAY
• PAT PATTERSON NEARLY DEPORTED IN THE 1960S OVER SPICN OF BEG GAY
• THE GOVERNMENT’S GAY WCH HUNT OF PAT PATTERSON
• ACCEPTED: HOW THE FIRST GAY SUPERSTAR CHANGED WWE
• WWE HALL OF FAMER, FIRST OPENLY GAY WRTLG STAR, PAT PATTERSON, DI AT 79
• WWE LEGEND PAT PATTERSON DEAD AT 79, FIRST GAY WRTLG SUPERSTAR
• WWE LEGEND PAT PATTERSON REVEALS THAT HE'S GAY
• PAT PATTERSON: BEG WWE'S FIRST GAY WRTLER, VCE MCMAHON RETIRG AND MENTORG THE ROCK
• PAT PATTERSON GAY -- WWE LEGEND COM OUT OF THE CLOSET AT 73 [VIDEO]

PAT PATTERSON, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO WRTLG STAR, HAS DIED AT 79

Pro wrtlg in Pat Patterson, the dtry's first openly gay star and a long-time litenant of promoter Vce McMahon, has died, officials said WWE Hall of Fame member was Patterson at the 53rd Cliflower Alley Club Rnn Conventn at the Gold Coast Hotel & Caso Las Vegas, Nev. "The teenaged Patterson was thrown out of his home Montreal after g out to his parents and did the unthkable — immigrated to Ameri to make the hyper-macho world of pro wrtlg, he wrote his 2016 bgraphy, "Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE.

"Havg a gay man wh a seat at the cisn-makg table at a pany like the WWE was and is credibly important, " Zeigler said. The visibily of his g out years later was great, but havg a seat at the table and makg sure the people around him knew he was gay, the power of that n't be overstated. Very few thgs show how the wrtlg dtry – and the world, by extensn – has evolved the recent years better than an openly gay wrtler performg for the biggt wrtlg promotn, WWE.

WWE HALL OF FAMER PAT PATTERSON, 1ST GAY SUPERSTAR PANY, DI AT 79

Wh Bret Hart tweetg on the back of Darren Young g out that the wrtlg dtry has been acmodatg of homosexual persons sce forever, one wonrs if there’s any tth to the sirs’ nvictn. His sexualy and acplishments wrtlg is chronicled superbly his tobgraphy Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE. While most of the wrtlers we’ve discsed seem to have overe the bulli and homophob, here’s a sad se that saw the wrtler end his life, overdosg on antiprsants.

When he announced 2014 that he was gay, they remaed Patterson, the first major wrtlg star to announce that he was gay, died on Wednday Miami Beach. Patterson on his tobgraphy, “Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE” (2016) s of workg his way up through regnal wrtlg circus Montreal, Boston and San Francis, Mr.

McMahon’s rivalry wh the wrtler Stone Cold Steve At the late announced he was gay 2014 durg an episo of “Legends’ Hoe, ” a realy televisn show on the WWE Network which retired pro wrtlers were sequtered though his iends and some wrtlg sirs knew about his sexualy, Mr.

PAT PATTERSON WAS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO WRTLER — SI THE LATE STAR'S PERSONAL LIFE

) Early his Canadian reer, he relled, he sometim traveled to towns “near the end of the known world” and wrtled there for five dollars a he was 16, he disvered a gay bar. Wh his first gay sexual experience, he wrote his memoir, he found two thgs that had been largely missg om his life: “tenrns and affectn.

WWEWednday, December 2, 2020Legendary pro wrtler Pat Patterson who me out as the first gay superstar WWE has sports entertament pany announced Wednday that Patterson passed away at the age of 79. A longtime employee of the WWE, Patterson was hailed as a pneer for the LGBT muny wh the though his g out was long-known wh wrtlg circl, Patterson chronicled his life the dtry his 2016 tobgraphy "Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE. "Addnally, the Canada-born Patterson is forever known as WWE's first-ever Interntental Champn, a prtig tle outsi of the pany's world champnship, and the creator of one of the pany's most unique match, the 30-person "Royal Rumble" Patterson was the first WWE Interntental "In a reer spanng six s, the renaissance man left an lible mark on the dtry the rg, on the microphone and behd the scen, " WWE stated, alludg to his one-time stt as TV lor mentator and his latter day role as a match producer and wrtled om 1958 until 1984, but still remaed a fixture of WWE's televised programmg, regularly appearg alongsi pany chairman Vce Patterson wrote about his life and reer the 2016 tobgraphy, "Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE.

WWE'S FIRST OPENLY GAY WRTLER PAT PATTERSON SADLY PASS AWAY

Acrdg to the late Hall of Famer, tellg the world that he was gay was credibly important, so much so that he uldn’t fd “words powerful enough” to expla his the words of profsnal wrtlg manager Pl Heyman, Pat Patterson’s ntributns to people’s liv will forever be appreciated. Pro wrtlg in Pat Patterson, the dtry's first openly gay star and a long-time litenant of promoter Vce McMahon, has died, officials said WWE Hall of Fame member was Pat Patterson (Gee Napolano / MediaPunch)"A te trailblazer of the dtry, Patterson was lked to many 'firsts' sports-entertament throughout his storied reer, " World Wrtlg Entertament said a statement. — Charl Robson (@WWERobson) December 2, 2020The teenaged Patterson was thrown out of his home Montreal after g out to his parents and did the unthkable — immigrated to Ameri to make the hyper-macho world of pro wrtlg, he wrote his 2016 bgraphy, "Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE.

Patterson, who was ducted to the WWE Hall of Fame 1996, is most well known for clchg the very first Interntental Champnship as well as beg the first openly gay profsnal was also the creator of the 'Royal Rumble' match which has bee so popular today. New tails have surfaced revealg a now-funct ernment office hound Pat Patterson for years an attempt to port him for beg a homosexual. The dtry has changed for the better as the lik of Sonya Deville, Toni Storm, and Jake Atlas, among others, are all openly gay or bisexual.

PAT PATTERSON WAS THREATENED WH DEPORTATN FOR BEG GAY

“This vtigatn based on rmatn received om the OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION, Uned Stat [redacted], furnishg rmatn that the SUBJECT is a homosexual, ” a memo one of the vtigatn's fil reads. Although fans were unaware of Patterson's sexualy, and he wouldn't e out publicly until 2014, most the bs knew the Hall of Famer was gay.

The plan was to have Patterson unrgo a psychologil exam when he applied for a new green rd, clarg him unf to return to the US due to the fact he was a homosexual.

Meet Pat Patterson’s partner, Louie DonroPat Patterson had a long and prospero reer profsnal wrtlg and has been lled a trailblazer for beg the first openly gay WWE fighter.

PAT PATTERSON NEARLY DEPORTED IN THE 1960S OVER SPICN OF BEG GAY

I survived all this, beg gay” the 1 mute and 44 send clip, Patterson mentns his partner, Louie Donro and adds, teary-eyed, that he had a iend wh him for 40 years, referrg to Patterson’s relatnship sadly end when Louie Donro died of a heart attack on 28 June, 1998. His time New England would open doors profsnally for him natnwi, but also prented an environment for him to fully embrace his gay inty.

For many, Patterson’s sexual orientatn was his most powerful aspect — pecially agast the background of pro wrtlg’s near-nstant flirtatn wh homophobia. Many erroneoly pot to Patterson as the first out gay pro wrtler, but that narrative’s hold remas strong bee of the legacy Patterson leav behd.

THE GOVERNMENT’S GAY WCH HUNT OF PAT PATTERSON

WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson was vtigated numero tim throughout the 1960s by the Jtice Department's Immigratn and Naturalizatn Service (INS) an attempt to port him back to his native Canada over spicn that he was gay. "This was at the tail end of the Lavenr Sre, a systematic persecutn of ernment employe who were gay or perceived as gay, " Bixenspan wrote. If any gay immigrants (or even if they were simply spected as beg gay) got trouble wh the law, they were often put to the excln tegori of "afflicted wh psychopathic personaly" and "sexual viatn.

"But an April 14, 1965 summary of wns terviews pots to what appear to be the likely flash pots — one of which was an vtigatn of the lol gay muny by the Portland Police Department's morals squad. As a young gay man of that era, Patterson’s reer profsnal wrtlg was, some ways, a refuge om the rt of the world, cludg his father’s rejectn at home. Though homophobic many ways — most visibly s e of gay-bag villas of var strip, like natnal televisn star Geo Gee — the bs was more acceptg behd-the-scen than a lot of society at the time.

As turns out, startg at the end of 1964, the Jtice Department’s now-funct Immigratn and Naturalizatn Service (INS) spent years vtigatg Patterson, wh the goal beg to fd evince of “homosexual activy” that uld be ed to have him ported back to Canada.

ACCEPTED: HOW THE FIRST GAY SUPERSTAR CHANGED WWE

This was at the tail end of the Lavenr Sre, a systematic persecutn of ernment employe who were gay or perceived as gay. He adds that gay immigrants tend to attract the attentn of the INS “if they got ught up any kd of law enforcement problem.

“This vtigatn based on rmatn received om the OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION, Uned Stat [redacted], furnishg rmatn that the SUBJECT is a homosexual, ” reads the troductn to one memo Patterson’s INS file, dated April 14, 1965, which I obtaed unr the Freedom of Informatn Act after Patterson’s ath December 2020. Rsell “Ron Dupree” Grobe, who troduced Patterson to Donro and who served as somethg of a mentor for Patterson terms of navigatg the Boston gay scene, had portrayed gay (Goln Boy Dupree) and otherwise queer-d (the “androgyno” Geo Gi-Gi) gimmicks, though an actual gay man portrayg such rol wasn’t necsarily the norm. But an April 14, 1965 summary of wns terviews pots to what appear to be the likely flash pots — one of which was an vtigatn of the lol gay muny by the Portland Police Department’s morals squad.

WWE HALL OF FAMER, FIRST OPENLY GAY WRTLG STAR, PAT PATTERSON, DI AT 79

“The reports relate to an vtigatn nducted by Portland Police Department morals officers at homosexual parti Portland, ” the document reads.

WWE LEGEND PAT PATTERSON DEAD AT 79, FIRST GAY WRTLG SUPERSTAR

The same document also allus to the fact that the Air Force’s Office of Special Invtigatn was lookg to a different wrtler — an Air Force veteran whose name was redacted — “to terme whether he is actually a homosexual and therefore subject to discharge om the air force. After dispensg wh the PPD and Air Force rmatn, the aforementned document lv to the terviews wh var “Portland area homosexuals” about Patterson. Many of the tails are mundane: One wns, who had “held ‘gay’ parti at his home” that Patterson and Donro attend, “said he had never actually seen the SUBJECT engagg homosexual activi wh other persons at the parti” and that “the SUBJECT’S actns’ at the parti were the same as any other gay person.

” (Given the time, ntext and different of the term “boy” the gay muny, as well as a lack of any kd of age range beg given, ’s bt not to take that phrasg too lerally. Another wns who attend the Portland area “gay parti” told the Portland Police that Patterson “acted gay, the same as the rt of the people at the parti” and “was known at the parti as ‘MISS PATTERSON.

’” Yet another was listed on the morals squad reports as a “victim” bee he was “the passive person on whom acts of sodomy were mted by homosexuals, ” but he nied knowg Patterson.

WWE LEGEND PAT PATTERSON REVEALS THAT HE'S GAY

The se self appears to have largely gone dormant for a while, likely due to the lack of clear evince of “homosexual activy. In the terim, though, the INS fely kept diggg, startg three days after the hearg, when they asked the Air Force for the file of the aforementned gay serviceman and pro wrtler who may have had some kd of sexual relatns wh Patterson.

On November 3, 1964, the airman admted an terview to “homosexual relatns, ” cludg specifilly namg Patterson as a partner while strsg that he had only been wh civilians, not other servicemen.

PAT PATTERSON: BEG WWE'S FIRST GAY WRTLER, VCE MCMAHON RETIRG AND MENTORG THE ROCK

A few weeks later, on December 9th, Patterson would be terviewed, wh tails clud the Air Force vtigator’s fal report: “PAT PATERSON [sic] was ntacted Seattle on December 9, 1964 and nied ever havg any homosexula [sic] relatns wh [redacted]; that when [redacted] was terviewed later he too nied his prev admissn of homosexual relatns wh Pat Paterson [sic] and explaed the reason for such false admissn was only bee of ‘PATS’ [sic] reputatn of beg a homo, and his sire to be relieved om the [several words redacted].

PAT PATTERSON GAY -- WWE LEGEND COM OUT OF THE CLOSET AT 73 [VIDEO]

Although, as you n well image, we n not get a homosexual to adm havg relatns wh him, neverthels the file ntas plenty of rmatn to the effect that he is homosexual. Siarly, a 1985 posn for an unrelated lawsu, Shire, though admtg he was a homophobe, also laid out how he tolerated Patterson thanks to his “discretn” about his sexualy.

As Bris rells, though, Patterson was always hant to specifilly e “gay” or “homosexual” to intify himself spe havg no issu wh his iends knowg that he was exclively attracted to men, stead scribg himself as “sexual. Meanwhile, as the 1980s went on — and after Patterson moved onto the admistrative si of the wrtlg bs — announcers would sometim make cheap homophobic jok at his expense (e. While all of the aclas are imprsive, they all pale parison to the role of beg one of the first openly homosexual wrtlers, even beg dubbed “the first openly gay wrtlg star” by NBC News, as well as “The First Gay Wrtlg Star” by People Magaze after havg e out behd the scen the late 1970s; as well as g out publicly 2014 the last episo of WWE‘s “Legend’s Hoe.