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It’s been an eventful summer for Impact Wrestling’s Kiera Hogan. Her newly signed multi-year extension with the company came shortly after coming out as LGBTQ during Pride month and revealing her romance with fellow pro wrestler Diamante. The following months brought nothing but love and positivity to one of LGBTQ pro wrestling’s latest additions, and that isn’t ending anytime soon.
Hogan’s summer of love is getting an extension all the way to October.
Hogan will embark on a pro-LGBTQ press tour, aptly titled her “Coming Out Party,” in conjunction with Impact’s premiere pay-per-view event, Bound For Glory on October 20, 2019. October is National Coming Out Month, and the significance of the title’s connection to that isn’t lost on Hogan. “I think it’s amazing that it’s dubbed my ‘coming out party,’ Hogan told Outsports. “Especially because I never thought I would even be comfortable enough talking about the things that I’ve talked about, how comfortable I am in my relationship and how happy I am.”
Bound For Glory emanates from Chicago this year, providing Hogan with the opportunity to interact with and inspire multiple communities in the area as an out and proud figure with Impact’s Knockouts division.
Most notable among those communities is LGBTQ youth. The party provides Hogan with multiple opportunities to mentor and empower the next generation. The tour kicks off on October 17 with a pizza party in Chicago suburb Buffalo Grove benefiting the Pinta Pride Project, a pro-LGBTQ organization started by 13-year-old local Molly Pinta. That impact will continue during October 20’s Bi-Ceps Before Brunch event at the Center on Halsted, a community center serving all ages of Chicago’s LGBTQ community. Hogan will be the keynote speaker at the event, and the chance to leave a mark isn’t lost on her.
“I grew up pretty much never thinking I was going to be in a position that I’m in. It never crossed my mind that I would even be comfortable talking about it,” said Hogan. “I’m so excited and so happy to be able to talk to the youth about this because I didn’t have anybody to talk to. I didn’t have anybody to go to. I didn’t have a role model or mentor, anybody that I could be like, ‘Hey, I have this secret and I want to come out with it but I’m scared.’”
Hogan will also participate in a few local athletic events. She’ll open the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association’s flag football tournament with a talk and ceremonial coin toss on October 19 before dropping the puck at the Chicago Wolves hockey team’s inaugural Pride Night.
The party really kicks into high gear the night of the 19th when Hogan co-hosts a drag show at Scarlet Bar. This is particularly special to her as it will be the first drag show she has ever attended. “That’s one of the things I’m really excited for because I’ve always wanted to go to a drag show. I love Rupaul’s Drag Race and I love my queens on YouTube,” Hogan said, adding, “This was a last minute addition and I was like, ‘Yes, yes. Sign me up. I’m in!’”
The press tour’s conception carries a similar serendipity according to Hogan. The idea was brought to Hogan on the same day she publicly announced her relationship with Diamante in July before the company even knew the post was live.
“[Ross Forman, Impact’s Head of Media Relations] actually came up to me at our Windsor taping literally the same day I made my announcement post. He didn’t know that I had made that post,” Hogan reminisced, adding, “So he was like, ‘Hey, do you want to do this stuff,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure. You know, I just made a post on my girlfriend today.’”
The commitment of Impact connecting its top event of the year to an explicitly LGBTQ goodwill tour is refreshing as the influx of LGBTQ talent within pro wrestling remains mostly below the purview of national touring promotions. Hogan praised the company for not being afraid to take such a supportive position and empowering her voice to the LGBTQ community.
“I’m completely surprised and honored that I was the first person in Impact to be an advocate… It was never on my radar and to be such a voice in such a big company, especially around our biggest pay per view of the year,” Hogan told Outsports. “That speaks wonders for Impact to give me that opportunity. To say, ‘Hey, one of our talents is a part of this community and so are we now.’”
“When I came out, all my peers, all my co workers, my bosses, everybody there was so supportive. This is taking another step forward, to be even more supportive, to have me go out and be a voice, use the platform and speak on it. This is something that’s so rare. I’m very grateful and blessed to have this opportunity. I hope that I kill it.”
Check out the full schedule for Kiera Hogan’s Coming Out Party here and make plans for a weekend full of celebration. “I just want to share with everybody that I’m so happy being completely 100% true to who I am. Your truth is your true happiness… I’m so excited I’m literally counting down the days. It’s gonna be so much fun.”
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