Fallon Fox, MMA fighter

Fallon Fox has drawn attention in and out of the octagon. Even if you’re not a mixed martial arts (MMA) fan, by now you’ve probably heard of her. This talented fighter has received worldwide attention for coming out as a transsexual to Sports Illustrated and gay sports site Outsports a few weeks ago. Under pressure from a different reporter who was preparing to expose her past, Fox felt compelled to come out publicly. Predictably, some commentators took to the airwaves, criticizing the athlete and calling for her exclusion from the sport.

Since then, Fox has interviewed with everyone from Inside MMA to Canada’s CBC Radio, telling and retelling the most intimate details of her history, psychology, and biology. By the time I was asked to speak with her for Team Fenom, I’d read about everything from her surgeries to her hormonal profile to her upbringing in a conservative Christian home. The one thing that nobody seemed to be talking about was that though there was an element of sensationalism to the coverage of her story, Fox was being subjected to the exact same treatment in the press and popular opinion as many other female athletes.

I caught up with Fox by Skype to talk about what it means to be a female competitor in America today.

Fallon Fox

Team Fenom (TF): You were quoted in Outsports saying, “I consider myself a woman. I happen to fall into the transgender category, but I rather describe myself as a woman first, transsexual woman second.”

You say that you’re afraid of losing your identity as a woman, an identity that you’ve fostered since your transition in 2006.

Can you tell me about the experience of having to undergo an assessment of your sex and identity for a second time?

Fallon Fox (FF): I haven’t had to deal with anything of this nature in a long time. For the past six years I’ve just been living pretty much as any normal female has. I haven’t had to deal with any of these issues, any second-guessing of my biology or anything. It’s been wonderful. For the past six years I’ve been able to live pretty much as any other woman.

As I said in the CBC interview, that’s gone now. It sucks. (Laughs) It’s just something I have to deal with.

TF: Now that you’ve come out, your case is under review in regards to whether you’ll be allowed to continue to fight. This process is itself an audit of your status, and by extension, an examination of the ideas of what it means to be female, and specifically, what it means to compete as a female.

FF: As of right now my Florida license is valid. I could go to Florida right now and have a professional MMA fight if I wanted to. They haven’t revoked it; they haven’t suspended it or anything.

Basketballer Yao Ming

TF: I was thinking about how all female athletes are subject to a level of monitoring and restriction that male athletes aren’t. I’m thinking about [South African runner who was sex-tested after her victory at the 2009 World Championships] Caster Semenya here, and I’ll offer a counter-example, Yao Ming, who was a 7’6” basketball player. He surely had an advantage during his career but his extraordinary height was seen as good luck, an anomaly, but not as unfair.

Do you think that the handicapping of female athletes—trans or not—ultimately limits women’s physical achievements?

South African runner, Caster Semenya

FF: Does it limit all women’s physical achievements? It depends. If there is a women who is highly athletic per se I’m quite sure that she’s always going to be looked at as, “She’s on steroids” or something like that. Even if she’s not and has passed drug tests.

And it’s not just that. It’s how she’s perceived to look. So say you have a female athlete who happens to be—say, a butch lesbian—or who just happens to not fit the stereotypical ideal of what a woman “should” look like. If she’s not feminine … she’s going to be looked at as an “other” or not as female as the other athletes.

There’s a big thing right now. They want to hire female fighters who happen to be feminine and straight—or at least look feminine. And it’s harder for women to find fights with promotions, who happen to be butch lesbians, you know what I’m saying?

Serena and Venus Williams

TF: Yeah, the Williams sisters are a good example of that. They are hyper-feminine in some ways but strong and “masculine” in others … there’s this dichotomy at play where female athletes need to be both, where appearances are simply not all that important for male athletes.

FF: It’s not important at all! You can look like anything. You can have a big scar running across your face and actually you’ll probably be applauded for that. Like, “Look at him—he’s tough.”

TF: And in terms of combat sports … certainly there’s this idea that—you see it with wrestling—where almost by default if you’re a woman in one of these sports you have to kind of hyper-feminize yourself to make up for being outside of this gender norm.

FF: Exactly. It’s tough.

TF: What kind of strategies or education or policy changes do you think could help foster women’s achievements in sports and make room for all of our diversity?

FF: I think education, number one. Just inform people that we have different body styles and different body structures, and yes, some of us are going to be highly athletic and we should be praised for our athleticism and our techniques and our achievements and not downgraded for what we’ve accomplished.

TF: Is there anything that you want to say to the people who refuse to acknowledge that you’re a woman?

FF: I just think they need education. A lot of them are going to have a bias and the only way to change their mind or to let them know that I am a woman is through education. There is no other way.

They have to look into the science behind what happens to a person when they transition from male to female—and they need to look up the psychology behind why a person would transition in the first place. I think that’s the main thing—they don’t understand why I would do this and some of them think I am just some crazy guy who wants to get into a cage and beat up women. I’ve heard that around on the Internet a lot, or that I do it for sexual reasons.

I’ve heard some people say, “It’s okay if you want to be female in the bedroom and we’ll call you a female and this and that but when it comes to anything else—no. You’re a guy.” It makes no sense at all.

TF: That comment came from Joe Rogan who, if I understand correctly, is kind of a big commentator in the sport. I watched the clip and know what you’re talking about. It’s very frustrating and so incredibly ignorant, and unfortunate that he has such a large audience.

FF: Right. And it’s sad because he said those things and then people were right behind him, and what a lot of people don’t realize is what he said was completely misogynistic. That a woman is made to be held down and bear children? [Ed. note: Rogan said, “Women are made to be held down by the stronger monkey. Women are built for carrying babies and doing work and whatever other non-hyper-explosive physical things you would want to do with your body.”] I couldn’t believe the words came out of his mouth.

But you know. It happens. Those are the thing we have to deal with.

**

On April 3, 2013, the Florida State Boxing Commission completed their investigation and cleared Fox to compete.

In the days since I spoke with Fox, I’ve thought a lot about how gender and sports are involved, and about the challenges that all women in sport have in common, but as I transcribed the tape I grappled with a nagging feeling that I’d missed something. Two days after the interview, I realized what it was.

On March 22, 2013, MMA fighter Peggy Morgan and her trainer, John Fain, released a YouTube video to “give their stance” on Fallon Fox. “Fallon Fox is not Rosa Parks,” Fain—a white man— says sitting next to his white fighter.

Fallon Fox is not only a trans woman; she is also, like Caster Semenya and both Venus and Serena Williams, a black woman. In modern day America, this means that she is twice as suspect, and twice burdened with a political battle she never chose to embody.

Having spoken with her for half an hour, though, I’m confident that she’s strong enough to shoulder it.

Ming, Semenya, and Williams photo credit: USA TODAY Sports
All other photos: Fallon Fox

Fallon Fox is featured in an upcoming documentary about the coming out process of professional and college LGBT athletes. Preview Game Face: Fallon Fox documentary about the trans MMA fighter.

This article was originally published on April 3, 2013, on Team Fenom.

Isaac Sopoaga…or an imposter?

Super what? No matter the outcome this Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers have already left everything they’ve got out on the field and come up way short. Let’s break it down into the play-by-play and see where they went wrong:

First down: Earlier this week, cornerback Chris Culliver told radio jock Artie Lange that gay players would not be welcome on the team. He suggested any gay player stay closeted until 10 years after the end of their football career. The comments were especially egregious in light of the fact that 49ers had been the first NFL team to produce an It Gets Better video in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, in which Donte Whitner says, “On behalf of the entire 49ers organization, we are on your side. And we promise: it gets better.”

Second down: The day after the Culliver story hit the news, the 49ers released an official response “rejecting” the comments, claiming that “We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.” Culliver issued an…apology? It read, in part, “The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel.”

Third down: This is where it gets really weird. Yesterday, 49ers Ahmad Brooks and Isaac Sopoaga denied that they ever appeared in the It Gets Better video. From Huffington Post:

“This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay,” Brooks told the publication. “But I didn’t make any video.” Later, after he was reportedly shown the video on an iPhone, the player clarified, “Oh, that. It was an anti-bullying video, not a gay [rights] video.”

Even more curiously, Sopoaga similarly denied taking part in the clip, even as a teammate reportedly tried to jog his memory. “I never went,” he declared. “And now someone is using my name.”

I can’t decide if my favourite part is where the reporter pulled out the phone to show Brooks the video, or where Sopoaga claims he’s being impersonated. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Fourth down: Last night, Dan Savage, co-founder of It Gets Better project, tweeted the following:

Courtesy, The New Civil Rights Movement

#horseshit about says it all.

Meanwhile, news broke that ex-49er Kwame Harris was facing felony charges for domestic violence stemming from an assault on an ex-boyfriend last August. Tight end Delanie Walker and snapper Brian Jennings were quoted in the Huffington Post, lending their support to their former teammate. So what’s the deal? Do the 49ers only support their gay teammates if they’re accused felons?

This whole affair is an epic sports fail. I say roll on, Sunday, and GOOOOOO Ravens!

(As if you need another reason, you can read about the human rights efforts of Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo here.)

Update: According to HuffPo, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs told NBC Sports that he and his team would welcome a gay players. ”We don’t care. Our biggest thing in the locker room is to just have fun and stay loose.”

Chris Culliver, via Twitter

Everybody’s sorry.

A few days ago, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver went on Artie Lange’s radio show and said a bunch of ignorant things about how there was no place for gay players on his team.

Culliver obviously missed the memo: the NFL is quickly becoming an LGBT-friendly franchise. Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo’s unyielding advocacy for same-sex marriage (bolstered by Vikings punter Chris Kluwe’s “cockmonster” letter, and the general support of the NFL) has heralded in a new archetype: the burly, macho jock who stands up for human rights.

Someone should have told Culliver to pay a bit more attention. His own team, the 49ers, was the first in the NFL to produce an It Gets Better video.

With the 49ers competing for the Super Bowl title on Sunday, I figured this story would be swept under the turf. Yesterday I asked how long we’d have to wait for an official response from the 49ers, and now I have an answer.

There’s good news and meh news. Let’s start with the good news: It took less than 24 hours after the story broke for the San Francisco 49ers and Chris Culliver to issue a statement.

“The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made yesterday, and have addressed the matter with Chris. There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.”

And from Chris Culliver:

“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.”

And now the meh news: There was no mention of a fine or suspension for the cornerback.

On the bright side, this makes it really easy for me to cheer for the Ravens come Sunday.

San Francisco 49rs

Well that didn’t take long. Just yesterday I wrote about how the extraordinary words and deeds of Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe were fostering in me an unlikely interest in (American) football. I even ended the post asking for a Super Bowl invite. (I’m sorted, thanks.)

But today, Yahoo Sports posted audio from an interview with 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver on radio personality Artie Lange’s show:

Lange: What about gay guys, do any of them approach you?
Culliver: I don’t do the gay guys man. I don’t do that.
Lange: Any other 49ers?
Culliver: We don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah…can’t be…in the locker room man. Nah.
Lange: OK, so they’d have to stay… keep it a secret.
Culliver: Yeah, come out 10 years later after that.

Artie Lange is frequently referred to as “shock jock Artie Lange,” and it’s clear that he’s fishing for hits with this one. Still, his lead-up to the clip is, “Listen to this, this is what the NFL is to me.”

More important to me than Lange’s blatant attention-grab is the issue of whether the 49ers are going to do anything about Culliver’s comments.

In August of 2012, the San Francisco 49ers snagged the distinction of becoming the very first NFL team to do an It Gets Better video. At 0:30, safety Donte Whitner says, “On behalf of the entire 49ers organization, we are on your side. And we promise: it gets better.” That’s some tasty PR.

So what part of Culliver’s statements are in line with the “official” anti-bullying, anti-homophobic stance? And how long will we have to wait for an official response? Seems like now would be the perfect time to prove to the 49ers’ LGBT football fans that it gets better.

Brendon Ayanbadejo for the NOH8 campaign

I pretty much hate American football. The version of masculinity that the sport generally celebrates–a tobacco-chawing, square-jawed, graceless hyper-macho image of bloodthirsty men–is the very antithesis of what I love about soccer/world football. It would take something extraordinary for me to cultivate an interest in it. Imagine my surprise to discover two somethings extraordinary: Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe.

Beginning some time around 2009, Ayanbadejo began openly advocating for the legalization of same-sex marriage, a personal campaign that failed to generate that much interest until September 2012. Remember, these were the heady pre-election days when lawmakers were thrashing each other over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, rape (“legitimate” and otherwise), and the Defense of Marriage Act. Perhaps emboldened by the utter lunacy playing out on the everyday news ticker, Maryland State Delegate Emmett C. Burns, Jr. wrote a letter to Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, demanding sanctions against Ayanbadejo. Bisciotti and the Ravens backed Ayanbadejo in the most graceful way possible–with an acknowledgement of receipt of the letter, and no further comment.

Ayanbadejo didn’t shut up, and according to the linebacker, the world of football was largely supportive. Arguably the most famous supporter, and certainly the most linguistically creative, was Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who wrote a letter to Emmett C. Burns, Jr.

I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won’t come into your house and steal your children. They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won’t even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails.
(Emphasis added, read the full letter on Deadspin. No really, go read it.)

Not surprisingly, the letter went viral.

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Vikings lost their chance at the Super Bowl title when they were knocked out in the wild card round, thus starting a long, dry spell until next September for their fans. Kluwe fans needn’t wait, though. Little Brown publishing will be releasing a book of the punter’s “uncensored personal essays” this June titled “Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies” (after being criticized for swearing in his letter to Burns, Jr., Kluwe produced a second version and used the titular utterance to obfuscate the phrase, “narcissistic fromunda stain.”)

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens kept winning, and on Sunday, February 3, they’ll face the San Francisco 49ers (the first NFL team to produce an “It Gets Better” video) for the biggest prize in football.

Over 100 million people watched the Super Bowl in 2012, and Ayanbadejo intends to take full advantage of this massive audience to carry forward his message. “There (are) still 47 or so states that don’t have [same-sex marriage] passed. It needs to be passed federally,” Ayanbadejo was quoted as saying on the Comcast Sportsnet site. “Why not be the person to carry that message not only to the United States but to the rest of the world? I have this huge platform. The whole world is watching.”

Ayanbadejo (with Kluwe’s help) has done the seemingly impossible: he’s introduced a human rights agenda to one of America’s grandest spectacles; he’s made room for compassion and thoughtfulness in a masculinity traditionally defined primarily by force and power; and he’s ignited my interest in American football. So, who’s gonna have me over to watch the 47th Super Bowl?

Follow Brendon Ayanbadejo on Twitter @brendon310; Chris Kluwe is @ChrisWarcraft.

2013 Cadillac ATS

Nobody was as surprised as I when, back in December, I was selected to enjoy a “three day test drive,” courtesy Cadillac cars. Apparently Klout told Cadillac that I held some kind of online influence; it’s not the first time Klout’s algorithms have come into question. I don’t look a gift ride in the mouth, though, so I booked myself in January 11 to 13, posted a gloat on my Facebook wall, and got on with my life.

But a car company giving someone a car, no-strings-attached, is a little suspect.

“It’s the ATS,” my dad (a car guy) said. “They’re looking for new markets.”

“I’m not sure broke-ass, half-crazy queer writers is the market they’re after,” I replied, picking compulsively at the hole I’d worn in my sweater. The whole scenario struck me as ridiculous and I couldn’t make any sense of it. Maybe my dad was right: Maybe all they knew about was the queer part, and some Caddy muckety-muck had hit a home run with a PowerPoint about the “pink dollar.” Still, I post a lot about the environment and cycling… I haven’t even owned a car for over 5 years, and even then it was a little Mazda.

A few days before the scheduled drop-off, a Cadillac rep contacted me to firm up the details. They would deliver the car–a black 2013 Cadillac ATS–to my house on Friday morning. Would some time between 8:30 and 9:00 am suit? I asked for some clarification on what, other than some tweets, the company would like from me in return, and I received a message reassuring me that while tweets would be welcomed, they were not required, and neither was any other form of PR. Cadillac just wanted me to enjoy the car.

At 9:00 am on Friday morning, a guy named Mark delivered the car to my house. When I answered my cell phone he said, “Are you ready to enjoy your Cadillac?” It was cheesy, but also kind of fun and thrilling. I went downstairs and sat in the driver’s seat (two-toned leather with French stitching, whatever that means) while Mark ran me through the basics. Mark handed me a waiver. “It’s basically agreeing not to drive like a maniac,” he said. I signed it, my fingers crossed behind my back.

As he handed over the keys, Mark told me not to worry about refilling the tank and that he’d pick the car up Sunday evening. He gave me his number in case I had questions, and then he was gone. And there I was in my moth-eaten sweater, bringing down the rents in the driver’s seat of a Caddy.

I had a marvellous weekend of road tunes and road food and road kill, but that’s not what this post is about. This post is about how, by acting like regular human beings, brands–even Cadillac–can improve their reputations. Look, Cadillac is not a brand I would have ever considered, and truth be told I’m probably not their target demographic. But they treated me well and made it easy for me to enjoy their product, and guess what? The ATS is a pretty sweet car. Even more importantly, the ATS is now a car that I associate with a great day with my dad (we drove to Uxbridge, Ontario, and only a little maniacally), and that’s the kind of PR you can’t strong arm out of people.

I hope this is the beginning of a trend, because as a writer it sure feels great to produce a story like this because I want to, not because I have to.

*Disclosure: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog… maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe they just wanted me to enjoy the car. Who knows? But if I can’t even tell the difference, who cares?

Photo: Saint Harridan

There are several ongoing news stories I followed this week, but no story recurred with such persistence than that not one, or even a few, but many businesses offering tailored clothing for butch women have recently launched to great success.

This is not (only) a fashion column. As someone who wears men’s clothes exclusively, I’m heartened by what seems  to be a real sea change in the politics around this issue, and the consequence–the option to be better dressed. Here are four companies catering to butch, transmasculine, and gender noncoforming folks.

1) The Butch Clothing Company was the first on my radar, showing up in 2009 when they were trying to launch. Purchasing clothes from TBCC begins with an in-person consultation (they are in the UK; Skype is also available), where you choose cuts, colours and fabrics, and they take your measurements. Each garment is completely custom. Check them out on Facebook and on their site.

Key messaging: The concept of our brand is simple. Butches are women; they are women who choose to wear men’s style clothing.

2) Saint Harridan recently launched an aggressive Facebook campaign and concurrent Kickstarter which raised  $50,000 more than their ask under this most excellent call-out: Get up. Suit up. Show up. Saint Harridan takes web orders through their site.

3) Tomboy Tailors is based in San Francisco, and will be opening their bricks and mortar store in February 2013. Additionally, they have plans to launch a web store in the future. This outfit has an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to create a photo book that will be “a celebration of the tailored tomboy.” Find them on Facebook or at their site.

Key messaging: Our vision is to provide everyone with a place where they can be themselves and experience excellent service, style, and quality. We also offer accessories and men’s shoes in a variety of sizes.

4) Fourteen takes a niche market and makes it niche-r: butch wedding attire. Founder Bernadette Coveney Smith noticed this market while working helping queer couples get married, and she’s looking to evolve the brand to include queer maternity wear. Check them out on Facebook and order from their site. (Tip of the hat to Butch Wonders, where I learned about Fourteen.)

Key messaging: With designs based on traditional classic masculine garments, but with the female and gender-noncomforming body in mind, jackets and shirts have smaller armholes and shorter arm lengths, as well as a shorter torso measurement. Necklines and shirt cuffs are modified, more bust room added where needed, all without sacrificing design and style.

A few thoughts on all of this: I think it’s marvelous that these companies are producing clothes that celebrate enhance and celebrate the butch identity, and in particular I have to laud Saint Harridan for the celebratory language on all their materials. They’ve written copy that draws an explicit link between dressing well and feeling well, and it’s a refreshing change. Also, props to Tomboy Tailors for mentioning men’s shoes in a variety of sizes; in Canada, it’s almost impossible to find men’s shoes in less than a 7 (42, in European sizes).

Now for a little sad face. These clothes, in general, are far outside my budget, and I’m wondering/hoping for the eventual availability of lines at different price points. Similarly, hoping for casual options (the bespoke suit and waistcoat isn’t appropriate for soccer Sunday in the park, for example), and the ultimate thorn in my side: swimwear.

I hope that all these companies get the business they need to keep flourishing, because I can’t wait to see what comes next. Know of other companies producing clothes for butches? Leave it in the comments.

Photo: No Limits

On Friday, 19 year-old Sihle Sikoji and two other women were attacked by a group of men in Cosovo, which is an informal settlement in Phillipi, a township of Cape Town, South Africa. One of the attackers pulled out a small spear and stabbed Sikoji in the chest. Another of the young women was stabbed in the arm trying to defend Sikoji while the third ran for help. Sikoji later died in hospital.

“According to an eye witness interviewed by Funda, Skotshi along with two of her women friends left a tavern where they were drinking to pick up more money at home of one of the girls,” Gay Star News reports:

Upon arriving five or more men confronted and started cursing them saying: ‘Ayo ndawo yenu le, yindawo yamaVura’ (this is not your place, it is amavura’s place) (Amavura is the gang that is known and feared in the area).

The men attacked them, and pulled out a mini spear stabbing Skotshi in the chest.

“It is a hate crime… The men approached them and said they act like boys. When Sihle said they were not boys but lesbians she was attacked and stabbed with a mini-spear,” Luleki Sizwe founder Ndumie Funda said, according to a report in All Africa.

This is an all-too-common story out of the area, yet it’s taken several days for the information to hit any mainstream media outlets, and even now the reporting is spotty at best. Sikoji (also spelled Skotshi here and here) was a black lesbian footballer who played for the Winnie women’s football club, based out of Gugulethu, a township outside of Cape Town. She was also an active member of Luleki Sizwe, an organization that supports lesbian, bisexual and trans women who are victims of ‘corrective’ rape.

‘Corrective’ rape is the rape of lesbians or women perceived to be lesbian by attackers who claim to be trying to ‘correct’ their victims’ sexuality. Rooted in skewed notions of class, race, gender and power, ‘corrective’ rape is a crime most often perpetrated against poor black women, and numerous football players have been attacked, tortured and murdered.  This isn’t coincidence; black women playing football are seen to be lesbian, and female footballers and lesbians both are seen to be occupying space set aside from men.

The most high-profile case to date was the 2008 rape, torture and murder of Eudy Simelane, a midfielder for the South African national team. The following year, in 2009, Simelane’s team mate Girlie ‘S’ Gelane’ Nkosi died after a similar assault. At around that time, the savagery and number of these attacks began to attract some international attention, but nothing was done at the governmental level so Ndumie Funda founded Luleki Sizwe.

Last year, in March of 2011, Funda delivered a petition of over 170,000 names of people from 163 countries to urge the South African government to take action against ‘corrective’ rape. Though Funda left the meeting with optimism about the future of a working relationship with the South African ministers, only six week later, another young black area lesbian was murdered.

Three months later, in April 2011, the United Nations passed an historic resolution that sought to apply human rights protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. And then another lesbian was murdered, and another.

Arrests are rarely made in these cases. Survivors and witnesses frequently live in the townships where their attackers reside, so they remain silent for fear of retribution. Police forces are indifferent at best, or may subject survivors to further abuse when they report. Aside from Luleki Sizwe, there are few support services for victims.

Take any month in the past year and a half and you can find reports of black lesbians being brutalized in South Africa. In July, a lesbian mother of a two-year old was raped and her throat cut at her home in Polo Park, Mokopan. In August, a lesbian was raped and murdered in Kwa Zulu Natal. And just last month, six lesbians were beaten at a gas station. These attacks take place with such regularity that the names, ages, and home towns of the victims run together.

Sihle Sikoji was just the next name in a long list, but her murder was not isolated. It was not coincidence that she was black, a lesbian, a footballer, and a community activist.

Her name was Sihle Sikoji, she was 19 years old, and she was from the Western Cape.

At the Homeless World Cup in Mexico City, 2012

Why it’s important to include LGBTQ programming in anti-poverty and anti-homelessness initiatives

From October 6 – 14, Mexico City hosted the Homeless World Cup, an annual soccer tournament designed to raise awareness of poverty issues, which is played by teams made up of homeless and socially-disadvantaged people from around the world. 2012 was the event’s 10-year anniversary, with teams from 54 nations participating. The opening weekend attracted over 50,000 spectators.

With members of USA’s women’s team

The Homeless World Cup Foundation works with a network of 73 national partners to support football (or “soccer,” to Americans) programs and social enterprise development. Based on the idea that soccer is an effective tool to combat poverty and homelessness, these national partners reach out to homeless and socially disadvantaged people in their communities and provide skills development, support, and training. Though selection criteria vary country-to-country, some players from within these programs are offered the opportunity to travel to the Homeless World Cup.

An LGBT identity can increase a person’s risk of living in poverty or being homeless, especially for youth.

Consider these data from the U.S., Canada, and Britain.

With members of Britain’s women’s team

According to an American report released in July 2012 by the Williams Institute in collaboration with the True Colors Fund and the Palette Fund, nearly all (94%) of homeless youth providers report serving LGBTQ youth. The report, which was based on 381 respondents representing 354 agencies across the United States, concluded that LGBTQ youth made up approximately 40% of the clientele served by these agencies. In Canada, an estimated 25-40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ (source: The Homeless Hub), and the U.K.’s Homeless Link‘s 2011 Survey of Needs and Provision identified 7% of clients in an average project as LGBTQ.

Despite these numbers, there was no visible LGBTQ programming or information at the Homeless World Cup, so on October 11 — National Coming Out Day in the U.S. — I put on my Football v Homophobia T-shirt and went to the Zocalo where the matches were taking place.  Football v Homophobia is an initiative of the UK-based organization The Justin Campaign – named after the world’s first male out pro footballer, Justin Fashanu – which is designed to raise awareness and combat homophobia and transphobia in football.

With a member of Mexico’s women’s team

The Homeless World Cup Foundation has very specific goals for the coming years: They want to involve one million players across 100 nations by 2014. The Foundation knows that football (soccer) is effective because “[w]hen a homeless person gets involved in football they communicate and build relationships with others; they become teammates, learning to trust and share; they have a responsibility to attend training sessions and games, to be on time and prepared to participate. They feel part of something.”

LGBTQ people should be a visible part of this something, too.

Allies and advocates can help by supporting the activities of the Homeless World Cup, and by asking for the implementation of LGBTQ-specific information, resources, and programming (like a Pride House, for example).

It’s like the shirt says: Football for everyone.

The 2013 Homeless World Cup will take place in Poznan, Poland. For more on the Homeless World Cup, read the FAQ section of their web site, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

With members of Canada’s women’s team

With members of Holland’s women’s team

With members of Paraguay’s women’s team

With member’s of Peru’s men’s team

With a member of the Guatemala women’s team

With a member of the Hungary men’s team