As part of Pri Month, BBC Sport looks at why there is a lack of openly gay male MMA fighters and what needs to change.
Contents:
- A WORLD MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPN STRS VISIBILY AS AN OUT GAY FIGHTER
- A GAY MAN'S JOURNEY OF DISVERY THROUGH MARTIAL ARTS
- OPENLY GAY JIU-JSU PRACTNER FDS SUPPORT FROM EVERYBODY
- GAY MARTIAL ARTIST FDS SUPPORT, MARARIE HIS SPORT
- PRI MONTH: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE MMA FIGHTERS?
- ANRSON SILVA: THERE ARE A LOT OF GAYS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
- INTERNATNAL ASSOCIATN OF GAY AND LBIAN MARTIAL ARTISTS RERDS
- OPENLY GAY JIU-JSU PRACTNER FDS SUPPORT FROM EVERYBODY
A WORLD MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPN STRS VISIBILY AS AN OUT GAY FIGHTER
William Seth-Wenzel is an openly gay jujutsu fighter whose boyiend cheered him on as he won the world champnship. * gay martial artists *
For world jujutsu champn William Seth-Wenzel, his g out procs as an openly gay fighter clud havg his boyiend at meets cheerg him on. Seth-Wenzel is also proud to have won as an openly gay athlete, havg e out gradually the last two years. His terview wh Outsports, nducted over email and Instagram, is the first time he has talked publicly about beg gay.
“Dog martial arts and beg gay is que rare I gus, ” he said. “Not beg gay maybe, but beg out as gay is not very mon.
I don’t know anyone who is out and gay the sport. I know the feelg of beg secretly gay a macho-domated sport.
A GAY MAN'S JOURNEY OF DISVERY THROUGH MARTIAL ARTS
"At the end of the day, to them I'm jt Rh: their teammate, iend and I jt happen to be gay." * gay martial artists *
Beg such a macho sport where domance is the goal ed some of his fellow petors to ially qutn whether Seth-Wenzel actually was gay. “It was basilly like the other fighters wanted a nfirmatn om me if I was gay or not. They had obvly seen pictur of me and my boyiend on Instagram, but still they need to hear om me that I was gay.
My nt was also gay and, therefore I knew that my fay would accept , but still felt very hard tellg them.
OPENLY GAY JIU-JSU PRACTNER FDS SUPPORT FROM EVERYBODY
* gay martial artists *
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MARTIAL ARTSThe IAGLMA MissnThe Internatnal Associatn of Gay and Lbian Martial Artists (IAGLMA) was born the excement and mararie of Gay Gam III Vanuver, Canada. Formed the spir of Tom Wadll’s Gay Gam visn, IAGLMA embrac the prcipl of “Participatn, Incln, and Achievement of One’s Personal Bt. Until Gay Gam III, many LGBTQI+ martial artists traed the closet, often not knowg any other martial artists om their muny.
IAGLMA was formed to ensure that the credible experience of GGIII would be clud every Gay Gam to e. San Francis, CA USAGay Gam 11 – Now Postponed until 2023Takg place on 15–18 November 2023—for the first time Asia—Gay Gam 11 Hong Kong (GGHK) offers a unique and dynamic mix of sport, arts, culture, fun, and muny by brgg together many diverse groups of people to create moments of nnectn and joy. The full experience clus openg and closg ceremoni, daily performanc, a gala ncert, LGBTQ+ art exhibns, and more excg events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Gay Gam.
)To further our goals of cln for all martial artists, IAGLMA has revised ternatnal, standard semi-ntact multi-style tournament petn l to ensure genr pary and the cln of those wh special needs form, sparrg and judgg—a level of clivy unheard of until the Gay Gam. IAGLMA l will ern the martial arts events for the Gay Gam XI (Hong Kong, Cha), and to date, our l have erned the martial arts events at:. Gay Gam IV (New York, NY, USA, 1994).
GAY MARTIAL ARTIST FDS SUPPORT, MARARIE HIS SPORT
IAGLMA’s Get Ready for Gay Gam V Internatnal Multistyle Martial Arts Tournament and Martial Arts and Self Defense Semars (Philalphia, PA, USA, May 1997). Gay Gam V (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Augt 1998). Gay Gam VI (Sydney, Atralia, 2002).
Get Ready for Gay Gam VII Tournament (London, UK, 2005). Gay Gam VII (Chigo, USA, 2006). Gay GamSydney WorldPri 2023 Martial Arts Champnship An clive LGBTI martial arts tournament will be held 16-21 Febary 2023 njunctn wh Sydney WorldPri's sports ftival.
PRI MONTH: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE MMA FIGHTERS?
This tournament will be the spir of the Gay Gam and will be followg the l of the Internatnal Associatn of Gay and Lbian Martial Artists.
ANRSON SILVA: THERE ARE A LOT OF GAYS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
I'm also a gay man who holds black belts two forms of martial arts. Now I know you're not gay.
"I mean I'm gay.
INTERNATNAL ASSOCIATN OF GAY AND LBIAN MARTIAL ARTISTS RERDS
) Sce there is an obte ncept that all homosexuals crave sexual enunters wh any and all members of the same sex, and sce martial arts is a ntact sport, I wasn't sure how my martial arts peers would take or what they would thk. Nicholas “Rh” Rotas is one of the few openly gay martial artists the Uned Stat. Not a sgle man on the team r that they’re sparrg and trag wh a gay man, and Rotas tak pri that fact.
OPENLY GAY JIU-JSU PRACTNER FDS SUPPORT FROM EVERYBODY
“It sadns me that many gay people may not ever experience the amazg support and skill offered by the sports bee of fear: fear that they won’t be accepted, or that they might get kicked out or shunned for beg who they are. There is a dishearteng storyof a man who was kicked out of his gym after beg outed South Carola a few years back, and I thk that reputatn has stuck among the gay muny spe of clear progrs over the years. “At the end of the day, to them I’m jt Rh: their teammate, iend and I jt happen to be gay.