When I recently learned that West Hollywood was home to “one of the oldest freestyle wrestling clubs in California for the LGBT community and friends,” as it describes itself, I was skeptical.
As someone who competed in wrestling at the collegiate and senior freestyle levels not long before I came out as a gay man in 1972, I figured a “gay wrestling club” was more about men seeking cheap thrills than about serious athletics. Nothing wrong with that—gay men have the right to grapple with one another, whatever the intent—but I doubted such a group would make respect for the sport a top priority.
Mea culpa.
One visit to a Southern California Wrestling Club (SCWC) workout and I was convinced that it was the real thing. Its members seem to have genuine deference toward a sport with origins in ancient Greece—one that today produces serious injuries second only in number to football, per a study reported in 2009.
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