Editor’s Note: You can watch CasGAYdia on IWTV, or if you’re in the area, grab a ticket and attend.

“Make more pie.”

These words spoken by Lo McGrath, producer of Butch vs. Gore and F1ght Club Pro Wrestling, have stuck in my mind since they uttered them on LGBT In The Ring back in 2019. The phrase referred to underrepresented communities taking agency and building their own spaces in worlds where none were provided. Pro wrestling was, and in many ways still is, one of those spaces.

A huge part of the work I do via Outsports and LGBT In The Ring falls in line with this sweet mantra: providing a platform for LGBTQ pro wrestlers, promoters and creators to tell their stories, share their experiences and foster a sense of community.

McGrath said this months before they and Billy Dixon launched one of the more powerful statement pieces of the LGBTQ pro wrestling movement — Butch vs. Gore. And now I invoke them again as I step into unfamiliar waters on Sunday, Sept. 11.

On that day, I’ll become a pro wrestling promoter. It still doesn’t feel right to say, honestly.

LGBT In The Ring is partnering with LGBTQ-led promotions Without a Cause Wrestling and PrideStyle Pro to hold the Pacific Northwest’s first queer-focused event, CasGAYdia.

The idea spawned initially as a way to bring pro wrestling, something I hold dear, into the celebration that was my wedding in a similar fashion to the beautiful and hugely significant flower crown Daryl Apparel made for me.

The event will obviously be happening after my wedding, but like the festivities that day, holding a pro wrestling bach party a few weeks after the wedding is the perfect kind of “rule-breaking” I enjoy.

And that sentiment is also reflected in not just my motivation for running an event. It’s a catalyst present in the entirety of the world of pro wrestling I regularly cover.

Pro wrestling’s history is rife with characters, storylines, and cultural sentiments that gave us the message that it didn’t want us in it. That has changed as views have shifted, but not without the work of so many people that pushed things forward.

People like Dark Sheik building unapologetic, rebellious spaces like Hoodslam and GLAM. People like Dixon and McGrath expanding the purview of how pro wrestling and queer culture can interact and enhance one another with Butch vs. Gore and Pro Wrestling VIBE.

People like WAC’s Max Zaleski and PrideStyle’s Milhouse Malott who are laying new foundations for inclusive pro wrestling environments in cities like Seattle and Las Vegas where they didn’t exist. People like Marco Mayor, Pollo Del Mar, MV Young and Lynn Frailey.

And, of course, people like EFFY, the namesake of Game Changer Wrestling’s Big Gay Brunch.

These people are my inspiration for CasGAYdia. What they have done to push pro wrestling to the point that we have multiple events aimed directly at an audience that the wider scope of pro wrestling is still learning to love is nothing short of breathtaking.

If I can help bring even a morsel of what these people have brought to the eyes of pro wrestling fans as one-third of the brains behind CasGAYdia, then my mission is accomplished.

This whole thing started with me wanting to throw a pro wrestling bach party, but it has morphed into something far more important.

The LGBTQ pro wrestling movement is coming to the Pacific Northwest on Sept. 11 in a VFW hall just outside of Seattle in Everett, Wash., thanks to Milhouse and Max having the same vision and helping a complete newbie create another way to build up the movement I’ve taken such joy and admiration in covering.

Don’t get me wrong, we have a card full of, as Milhouse would say, banger matches: Sandra Moone vs. Max The Impaler, Keita vs. Ashton Starr, Dark Sheik vs. Sonico, and Anton Voorhees vs. Parm Singh Mann — to name a few.

But CasGAYdia is more than just the matches on the card. It’s another way for me to give back and build up the cause. It’s about making more pie so we all can eat.

CasGAYdia will take place Sunday, Sept. 11, in Everett, WA. Standing room tickets are still available at brainbustertix.com/casgaydia. CasGAYdia will also air live on IWTV at 7pm ET/4pm PT. All profits from the show will be donated to The Trevor Project.

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