Sonya Deville has been outspoken about the importance of LGBTQ inclusion since arriving in WWE. She publicly ‘came out’ as gay during a segment on Tough Enough before she was ever hired.
Deville recently spoke with TalkSport and discussed how WWE could incorporate LGBTQ characters into its programming.
“LGBTQ inclusion is something I’ve talked about for years,” she said. “To incorporate that into WWE TV organically should happen because it’s just part of life. It’s like every TV show usually has a gay character because, statistically, there would be a gay character!”
Sonya Deville On How To Include LGBTQ Characters In WWE
Deville also commented on how it could be included as part of her character if done in an organic and subtle way.
“I think it’s a natural thing. I’d like it to be really organic. I’d like it to be done right, of course, but I would like it to be organic so that if it was ever a part of my character or a layer of me, I would like it to be subtle and make sense.”
Finally, Deville said the best way to include LGBTQ characters on WWE programming is to be subtle about it, not build an entire angle around it, and have it occur organically.
“You don’t necessarily need a whole angle around it. We’ve had ideas in the past and things like that, but it just needs to be organic,” Deville said. “If there’s a scene where one of the male superstars called his wife backstage and then one day, I could call my girlfriend backstage, you know what I mean? Just organic things like that which are a part of life, I don’t think anything needs to be forced.”
The 28-year-old Deville appeared on Tough Enough in 2015 and was signed to WWE shortly after. She made her main roster debut in 2017 along with Mandy Rose. Deville is currently an on-screen authority figure in WWE along with Adam Pearce after losing a “loser leaves WWE” match to Mandy Rose.
