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
- GAY MARTIAL ARTIST FDS SUPPORT, MARARIE HIS SPORT
- OPENLY GAY JIU-JSU PRACTNER FDS SUPPORT FROM EVERYBODY
- PRI MONTH: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE MMA FIGHTERS?
- ANRSON SILVA: THERE ARE A LOT OF GAYS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
- THE BATE: HOW GAY IS MMA?
- NAMIBIAN MPS BACK ANTI-GAY LAW SPE SUPREME COURT LG
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 artist *
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.
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 artist *
“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.
GAY MARTIAL ARTIST FDS SUPPORT, MARARIE HIS SPORT
* gay martial artist *
I don’t know anyone who is out and gay the sport. I know the feelg of beg secretly gay a macho-domated sport. 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.
OPENLY GAY JIU-JSU PRACTNER FDS SUPPORT FROM EVERYBODY
The UFC fighter says: "You want to be gay, be gay, ’s all right." * gay martial artist *
“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.
PRI MONTH: WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY MALE MMA FIGHTERS?
My nt was also gay and, therefore I knew that my fay would accept , but still felt very hard tellg them. 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. ) 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.
ANRSON SILVA: THERE ARE A LOT OF GAYS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Only one gay profsnal fighter exists - Shad Smh of the Uned Stat.
THE BATE: HOW GAY IS MMA?
Recently, lbian Amanda Nun of Brazil beme the first openly gay dividual to hold a UFC champnship belt. I'm also an openly gay fighter; my ma foc is Brazilian Jiu Jsu, but my sendary art is Muay Thai. There aren't many of openly gay fighters out there, and unfortunately my sport has a pretty bad reputatn that seems to sre many away om trag.
NAMIBIAN MPS BACK ANTI-GAY LAW SPE SUPREME COURT LG
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 story of 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. In turn, this ed a stigma the gay muny for those of who participate BJJ/MMA.
When I brought this up to teammat, they were appalled by reactn the gay man South Carola faced the Jiu Jsu muny.