Thursday, July 11, 2013
No Holds Barred: Kye Allums of GO! Athletes on the Fight for Fallon Fox
GO! Athletes is an organization of current and former LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) athletes and their allies fighting to educate people about the need to accept all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Kye is an advocate, public speaker, artist, and athlete. Kye is a recent graduate of The George Washington University where he received a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. While attending GW, Kye came out as the first transgender basketball player to play openly on a Division 1 women's basketball team. Since then he has been devoted to making a difference in the world by fighting transgender ignorance with education through his Transition Tour.
GO! Athletes has been organizing a campaign to support Fallon Fox, the first openly transsexual MMA fighter, and her right to fight other women. They are using the Twitter hashtag #Fight4Fallon.
We spoke with Kye Allums by phone Wednesday about this campaign and the activities of GO! Athletes.
"The #Fight4Fallon came from all of us just being fed up with all of these ignorant comments and uneducated people essentially just saying a lot negative things without having an abundance of positive comments to follow through," he said. "The #Fight4Fallon campaign was to just get people who are supporters of Fallon to start showcasing that, to actually start vocalizing that, seeing these negative comments and not doing anything about it, to combat the negativity."
He continued, "The hope of this is to really show that Fallon has the support of a network and there are people who have her back." But he added, despite the support for her, "That part of the discussion was not being shown and the negative views and comments were overshadowing any of the positive and supportive people that were around the country."
We also discussed how he had first met Fallon Fox even before she had publicly come out, why the assertions that she has an "unfair advantage" over other women fighters are baseless, combat sports athletes and GO! Athletes, and a lot more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
The First Annual Liberty Bell Classic East Coast King of Catch Tournament, organized by the North American Catch Wrestling Association in conjunction with Scientific Wrestling. This catch wrestling tournament will take place Saturday, August 31, 2013, at the Klein JCC, 10100 Jamison Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19116. No points! No politics! Only submissions and pins win! For more information, go to http://nacwa.weebly.com.
Labels: defend, Eddie Goldman, Fallon Fox, GO Athletes, Kye Allums, LGBT, MMA, No Holds Barred, support
Thursday, July 04, 2013
No Holds Barred: On the Campaign to Defend Fallon Fox
This is being primarily organized by GO! Athletes, an organization of current and former LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) athletes and their allies fighting to educate people about the need to accept all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The issue of Fallon Fox, the first openly transsexual MMA fighter, and her right to fight other women, has uncovered a mountain of hate, prejudice, ignorance, and misinformation in the MMA and combat sports world. This campaign aims "to build her an army of supporters to combat the negative punches being thrown at our hero", Fallon Fox.
Analyzed are the historical importance of Fallon Fox being the first openly transgender MMA fighter, the unprecedented nature of the organization of a grassroots campaign to support her, comparisons and the differences with the grassroots support organized in the 1960s to support Muhammad Ali when he was unjustly stripped of his world heavyweight boxing title, the mostly negative reaction to Fallon Fox in MMA officialdom and their tools in the "media", and much more.
This show also opens with a brief commentary on the rebirth of catch wrestling, where you can only win by pin or submission, and the importance of the First Annual Liberty Bell Classic East Coast King of Catch Tournament, which takes place Saturday, August 31, in Philadelphia.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
The First Annual Liberty Bell Classic East Coast King of Catch Tournament, organized by the North American Catch Wrestling Association in conjunction with Scientific Wrestling. This catch wrestling tournament will take place Saturday, August 31, 2013, at the Klein JCC, 10100 Jamison Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19116. No points! No politics! Only submissions and pins win! For more information, go to http://nacwa.weebly.com.
Labels: defend, Eddie Goldman, Fallon Fox, GO Athletes, LGBT, MMA, No Holds Barred, support
