Exclusive: Lucha Underground's Sonny Kiss & Killian McMurphy Comment on Being The First Openly Gay Active Wrestling Couple, National Coming Out Day

Sonny Kiss and Killian McMurphy
Sonny Kiss and Killian McMurphy

Recently, it was National Coming Out Day, and I interviewed the first openly gay couple in sports entertainment, Lucha Underground's XO Licious, known on the independent scene as Sonny Kiss and independent wrestler Killian McMurphy. The couple has been dating for almost two years now. During the interview, they discussed their coming out stories, locker room treatment and what National Coming Out means to them both.


SK: What does National Coming Out Day mean to you?

Sonny Kiss: Well for me, as I think I put in the post earlier, I don't know if you want to have that somewhere in the article or screenshot it, today is a day where people need to really really to shine a light on the struggles of coming out because I've never had that story. My boyfriend did actually that's the thing today is an actual holiday that people can celebrate because it means something it also just not in the limelight it's on the forefront and people don't talk about it enough.

Here is the post that he wrote on Facebook.

Killian McMurphy: I didn't come out until about two years ago I guess. It was right around the time I started dating Sonny. It was a really tough thing to do at first because I had known these people for so long. I had known this about myself for so long. I don't know if some people felt betrayed like I kept a secret from them, but this really helped me communicate that with people.

I'm from a small town in Delaware, middle of nowhere, not many Gay people in this area at all. I think people are homophobic because they don't really counter that in this area really, it's not something you see. My family is very conservative. They struggled with it, and still struggle with it to this day honestly. It's something I'm highly sympathetic and empathetic for other people going through that similar thing. I know how tough it can be. It's a pretty cool holiday, not like National Balloon Day and your best friend day.

Sonny Kiss: Today is definitely a special day, it always has been since I was young. Hearing Killian's story and hearing my other friend's stories, even to this day wrestler's who are still in the closet I know about, but it's just like wow, it's a hard thing to do. It's like, okay, I know you're struggling even though I've never been through it myself. I can see why it'd be very tough to deal with. No one wants to hold a secret, a secret like that especially. It's not a secret you told a best friend. It's a secret of who you are.

Killian McMurphy: It weighs so heavy. One thing that's cool that I tell people all the time is I didn't start wrestling until two, three years ago. So it was really wrestling that gave me the confidence to come out of the closet.

Sonny Kiss: We are the first, and only openly gay couple out there. That's like so crazy. We like to sit there like hey babe that's us. We're the first and only openly gay couple active wrestling wise. We're both active wrestlers, so it's like, we're the first legitimately openly gay couple in wrestling. That's huge!

We get a lot of support from it too. It's nothing even negative. I mean, of course, you get the small talk here, and there. It doesn't really mean anything. It's just ignorance. We rarely ever get that. We get so much support from everybody.


SK: When you're in the locker room, at Lucha Underground, or together at an independent show, how do the others perceive you?

Sonny Kiss: Together it's been nothing but amazing. So much support from the guys. The guys actually embrace us like they would any couple. They just embrace us and are loving and supportive. So supportive. So so supportive.

Individually, for me, at the beginning as a feminine wrestler, it definitely raised some eyebrows and had people looking. I was only confident outside of the ring. Ya know, everyone has their insecurity, but I finally had the confidence in wrestling to embrace who I was as a human being, as a person, as a wrestler, and people started to respect me more. So now it's like, "Oh, you can't act like him, he's confident."

In the beginning, there was a small struggle. Not a significant enough to get me down obviously because I'm still here five years later. For me, I would say it's been a lot of love and support.

Killian McMurphy: It's been awesome. Nothing but love and support, especially when we're together. People love us as a couple.


I'd like to personally thank the couple for taking time out of their day to speak with me. You can also listen to Killian McMurphy on video games at Arrows To The Knee, and catch Sonny Kiss on Lucha Underground Wednesday nights at 8 pm on the El Rey Network.

If using any of the audio or quotes please make sure to credit Lee Walker III and Sportskeeda. You can listen to the interview below:

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Edited by Raunak J