Compete January 2016

IN OUR TENTH YEAR

SPORTS. DIVERSITY.

2015 THE YEAR IN SPORTS JANUARY 2016 • VOL. 10 NO. 1 $3.95 • COMPETENETWORK.COM

Photo by Game Face, gamefacedoc.com

JANUARY 2016 Volume 10, Issue 1

PUBLISHERS Eric Carlyle • eric@competenetwork.com Patrick Gamble • patrick@competenetwork.com COMPETE MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief Connie Wardman • connie@competenetwork.com CompeteNetwork.com Editor Ty Nolan • ty@competenetwork.com Style Editor Alfonzo Chavez • alfonzo@competenetwork.com Art Director Jay Gelnett • jay@competenetwork.com Graphic Design Assistant Matt Boyd • mattb@competenetwork.com Contributors Harry Andrew, Ian Colgate, Jay D’Angelo, Joseph Gaxiola, Jeff Hocker, Jon Johanson, Jeff Kagan, Miriam Latto, Charles Naurath, Dr. Rob Elliott Owens and Brian Patrick Photo Editor Jacquelyn Phillips • jacquelyn@competenetwork.com Photographers Thomas Fleisher, Leland Gebhardt Sales & Partnerships KC Jones • kc@competenetwork.com Jonathan Bierner • jonathan@competenetwork.com Administration Camille Fitzgerald • camille@competenetwork.com Copyright © 2016 MEDIA OUT LOUD, LLC All Rights Reserved.

Corporate Office 4703 South Lakeshore Drive, Suite 3 Tempe, Arizona 85282 • 480-222-4223 Compete is a trademark of Media Out Loud, LLC MISSION STATEMENT Compete unites the world through sports.

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2015 YEAR IN SPORTS 16 MEET FALLON FOX 20 BILLY BEAN

BASEBALL’S INCLUSION AMBASSADOR

22 GO! ATHLETES:

USING VISABILITY, CHANGE AND ADVOCACY

KICK–OFF

11 COMMUNITY HERO Jack Mackenroth

12 LEFT FIELD

Speed Read, Grandstanding,Thumbs UP/DOWN

DEPARTMENTS 24 MVP

Johnny Perez

27 ATHLETE

Savannah Burton

SPORTS 31 Bi-Annual Cycledelic Festival & Ride 33 Trent Taylor 36 What Would Tom Waddell Say? 38 Meet K Marie 40 Compete’s 2015 Charity Golf Classic

OVERTIME

@COMPETESPORTS

42 GYM BAG 44 EVENTS 46 SPORTS YEARBOOK

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Check out more Compete stories online at: competenetwork.com

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COVER ATHLETE Fallon Fox, MMA Fighter COVER PHOTO Rolando De La Fuente

| COMPETE | 5

FROM THE SKYBOX

BY ERIC CARLYLE, CO-FOUNDER

Remembering Special Sports Diversity Moments in 2015

A

@CompeteEric

nother year has come and gone and sports diversity continues to rapidly evolve. Soccer, the world’s most popular sport, played an integral role in sports diversity this year. The Women’s World Cup, in which the U.S. beat Japan, was the most watched soccer match in U.S. history. What an amazing step forward to see such a rising interest in women’s sports, especially since a number of the women are openly lesbian.

And big news in world sports wasn’t limited to team play. Caitlyn Jenner’s transition was probably the biggest sports story of 2015. I have to say Caitlyn’s story was one of the most surprising sports stories to come about since Compete’s inception. More than just an incredible Olympic champion, Caitlyn also proved to be an incredible role model for the transgender community and, frankly, the LGBT community at large through her willingness to be open about her life and acknowledge any faux pas during her learning curve as a woman.

My home state of Indiana was in the news this past year, unfortunately for its Religious Freedom Restoration Act which proved damaging to Indiana’s reputation and economy. A number of organizations threatened to ban the Hoosier state for what many viewed as anti-LGBT legislation. One of my long-time sports heroes, Olympic diver Greg Louganis, along with Athlete Ally, stepped up and spoke out against the act.

In the end the state backed down from implementing the bill as originally written.

There were many more national and international stories that made news in 2015, like world champion freeskier and Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy’s and Princeton football player Mason Darrow’s coming out and ESPN: The Magazine’s November issue called the “being out” issue. In fact, Compete’s 2013 Mark Bingham Athlete of the Year Chris Mosier made the cut and was featured in the ESPN issue.

But there were also great sports stories that remained predominantly in the LGBT media. For example, the San Diego Bolts of the National Gay Flag Football League made history this year by winning their fourth Gay Bowl in a row, this year in their home town, no less—a big accomplishment by any standard.

So for this issue we’ve chosen to highlight some of the important sports diversity stories carried in Compete Magazine in 2015. These are stories that highlight gay and allied athletes and their assorted organizations coming together, inspiring us all as we continue to move the sports diversity movement forward into 2016 and beyond. Please join us!

Sport On, Eric Carlyle Chief Executive Officer eric@competenetwork.com

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FROM THE CATBIRD SEAT

BY CONNIE WARDMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN SPORTS DIVERSITY GETTING A SECOND LOOK

W

hen reviewing sports diversity milestones in 2015, we realized that there were a number of important stories that made national and international news – Eric already mentioned in his letter the FIFA Women’s World Cup win, Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out as well as Chris Mosier, our 2013 Mark @CompeteConnie Bingham Athlete of the Year making the pages of ESPN’s “being out” issue. But we also realized that there were some very important and inspiring stories that didn’t receive such broad media coverage.

While every person’s coming out story is deeply meaningful, the good news is that so many LGBT athletes at every level—from high school to college to professional sports—now feel more safe (and hopefully more comfortable) coming out, their news-worthiness isn’t considered groundbreaking anymore by mainstream media.

They no longer make the same profound media impact Jason Collins’ 2013 coming out story made, for example.

What we’re seeing now are more stories of openly gay athletes and their ally counterparts changing hearts and minds within their local communities simply by being who they are and playing the sports they love while supporting local events and charities.

All this prompted us to change the way we reviewed the 2015 year in sports diversity by including important stories from Compete Magazine in 2015. These are stories of the important work being done this past year by gay and ally athletes and their organizations, stories which the mainstream media, by and large, didn’t cover extensively or at all. We think the stories and your feedback deserve some extra attention by being placed together in this issue.

We hope you’ll enjoy this new take on reviewing what we consider to be some of 2015’s important sports diversity stories. We think you’ll be pleased to see the sometimes big, sometimes quiet progress being made to eliminate homophobia and transphobia in sports, leveling the playing field for all athletes through a mixture of inclusion, diversity, equality and good old fashioned team spirit.

Keep Smiling,

Connie Wardman, Editor-in-Chief connie@competenetwork.com

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| COMPETE | January 2016

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COMMUNITY HERO

KICKOFF

Jack Mackenroth

Senior communication officer for The Global Forum on MSM and HIV (from the July 2015 issue) JACK MACKENROTH has long been a positive role model for those who are HIVpositive (HIV+).

When he was diagnosed as HIV+ in 1989 at age 20, his life expectancy was two or three years at best— ultimately, it was a death sentence.

The fact that he has outlived his predicted death for the past 26 years has turned him into one of the most visible and committed advocates for HIV testing and treatment, and for eliminating the stigma attached to being HIV+.

Mackenroth has recently been appointed senior communications officer for The Global Forum on MSM (men having sex with men) and HIV (MSMGF). The advocacy network’s mission is “To advocate for equitable access to effective HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services for gay men and other MSM, including gay men and MSM living with HIV, while promoting their health and human rights worldwide.” And it’s Jack’s job to get out the organization’s message via their website, blog, media interviews, press releases and social media.

Currently much of the MSMGF’s effort is focused outside the U.S., making sure that high-risk groups in middle and lower income countries have access to funding and services through the organization’s work with governments and organizations to protect marginalized MSM groups in those regions.

As a well-known fashion designer, reality television star, radio personality, an award-winning swimmer and Compete Magazine’s 2012 Athlete of the Year, Mackenroth brings to his new position not only his professional experience as a media strategist but also his creative, innovative approach to HIV activism. He became one of the most visible national HIV activists after disclosing his own HIV

status on season four of Project Runway and it led to him being a national spokesperson for the HIV education campaign, “Living Positive by Design.”

As the director of public relations at World Health Clinicians in 2013, Mackenroth was the creative force behind the multimedia anti-stigma and HIV testing initiative, “HIV Equal.” He created the HIV Equal term to fight the stigma of being HIV+, illustrating that we are all equally valuable, regardless of our personal HIV status.

Following on the heels of the HIV Equal campaign, as a media strategist for Housing Works in New York City he was art director for a new HIV-related campaign. But Mackenroth doesn’t limit his support to work projects. He participates in lots of fundraising efforts for various HIV/ AIDS organizations, bringing his characteristic creative approach to his efforts.

Although only a novice cyclist, Mackenroth decided to take part in last year’s BRAKING AIDS® Ride, a three-day 300-mile ride from Boston to New York to benefit Housing Works in New York City. He figured while it might be challenging, it would certainly be doable and made the announcement that he’d raise $50,000 in only seven weeks for the AIDS advocacy organization that provides housing, medical, prevention and support services for those living in the New York City area.

With a massive social media reach of more than 500,000 followers, he thought donations would start to roll in. But when that didn’t happen, Mackenroth used his chiseled body as a billboard, “selling” personalized seminude selfies for donations over $250. Tagging the name, business, website or social media handle of any major donor, he posted photos on all his social media outlets; the larger the donation, the more provocative the ad placement became. By the time all the money was collected, he raised $52,300, setting an individual fundraising record.

Most recently he conceptualized and launched the HIV Shower Selfie Challenge with the hashtag #weareALLclean on World AIDS Day 2014 which went globally viral in multiple countries with over 26 million social media impressions. With today’s Internet providing the global village envisioned by Marshall McLuhan, it’s easy to see why Jack Mackenroth is the perfect community hero for our globally connected world.

DO YOU KNOW A COMMUNITY HERO? Community Heroes is a regular feature in Compete Magazine. Nominate deserving individuals by emailing us at heroes@competenetwork.com and include a brief biography of or a link to your nominee.

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| COMPETE | 11

KICKOFF

LEFT FIELD

SPEED READ (From the September 2015 issue)

LET’S HEAR IT FOR BREAKING THE GENDER BARRIER IN PRO SPORTS Yes, let’s hear it for the women who are finally being hired into full-time positions in men’s sports as well as the men and their organizations that recognize that gender doesn’t have anything to do with a great sports mind and leadership abilities.

Sports diversity is about equality, inclusion and acceptance. It’s about recognizing that any person who has the physical, mental and emotional skills to play a sport should be treated the same, given the same opportunities to participate as anyone else regardless of gender.

Reading Twitter shows that many male sports fans continue to dismiss women in positions of authority within the big male team sports. But what is becoming increasing clear is that the pro athletes in those sports whose paychecks reflect how well or poorly they and their teammates have played are really interested in working with someone who knows the game inside-out and can help them become better players.

For them, it’s about winning games and championships.

We’ve written about Becky Hammon who has been making successful coaching inroads with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs as a full-time assistant coach. But within the last several months we now have Jen Welter, Sarah Thomas and Nancy Lieberman joining Hammon as women breaking the gender barrier. And their hirings aren’t simply for publicity purposes.

JEN WELTER Hired in July as a preseason linebackers coach by the Arizona Cardinals, Jen Welter has become the first female NFL coach. Bruce Arians, coach of the Cardinals was open to the idea. Already referred to as the “quarterback whisperer,” Ariens isn’t afraid to make bold choices that are non-traditional.

Back in March he had talked about women coaching in the NFL without any prompting. When asked if he’d consider hiring one, his response was “The minute they can prove they can make a player better, they’ll be hired.”

Welter has a master’s degree in sports management and a doctorate in psychology but she’s also known as a football junkie – she not only loves studying the game, she’s also had an active playing career and brings lots of practical experience to the table. Having played rugby in college, Welter then transitioned into pro football and for 14 years she played in a professional women’s league, on Team USA and played running back and special teams for the Texas Revolution of the Indoor Football league, a professional men’s league.

Brought in for summer training camp, Welter has already bonded with the players, some of whom admit to having initial misgivings about having a woman on the coaching staff. As summer camp and the preseason games wind down, it’s not known at this point whether or not she’ll stay with the Cardinals. She says she isn’t sure what comes next but vows to keep herself open and live 100 percent in the moment, taking this experience for what it is.

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“I’ve had such a great experience with these guys. I love it,” said Welter. “I could do this for a long time. But, like anything, it’s always about the right opportunity. I love this team and this family, they have been so great to me. It’s like, wow, how could you not want to do this?” In an interview with USA TODAY Sports, Ariens has said that he’ll give Welter the highest recommendation to any coach interested in hiring her. He also said that he’d like to have her back on the Cardinals staff next season if she hasn’t already accepted a full-time coaching job before that.

SARAH THOMAS At the Cardinals’ preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs another historic moment was captured by an AP photographer – Welter, the first woman NFL coach, shaking hands with Sarah Thomas, the first woman to act as an on-the-field official. It was just this past April that the NFL hired Thomas as its first full-time female official.

Thomas has done some past sideline work for the Browns, Colts and Saints minicamp practices but she’s built her reputation as an official at the NCAA level. She joined eight other officials hired by the NFL this spring. NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said in a statement, “Our incoming officials have all demonstrated that they are among the best in college football. We are excited about having them join us.”

Originally starting with high school football in 1999, Thomas’ firsts included being the first female official refereeing a college bowl game in 2009 for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl and then a 2011 job working the Rice-Northwestern game as the first woman to referee in a Big Ten stadium.

But she doesn’t think it’s been harder for her as a female.

Back in 2013 Thomas told ABC News that “I think that we are just out here working as officials. ... I think just on our credentials, just as officials, I think that’s what moves us along, not because of our gender or our race.”

NANCY LIEBERMAN In July the Sacramento Kings announced that they were adding Olympian and Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy “Lady Magic” Lieberman to their coaching staff, making her the second female full-time assistant coach in the NBA. Like Hammon, she worked with the Kings at Summer League held in Las Vegas.

Kings vice president Vlade Divac announced on July 30 that “Definitely I’m going to offer her a job. George (Karl) and I talked about bringing her back after she helped us at Summer League (in Las Vegas). She was terrific. She brings a different dimension. I think is a nice opportunity for her.”

Like Hammon, Welter and Thomas, Lieberman already has an impressive resume as a player. As an Olympian and WNBA player already enshrined in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, she has also served as head coach and general manger of the Detroit Shock for three years before being hired to coach the Mavericks’ D-League affiliate, the Texas Legends and rising to the role of assistant general manager in 2011.

It looks like the time has finally come for sports fans and players to come to the same conclusion as professional players and listen to someone with knowledge and experience who can make them a better, more successful player regardless of their gender.

COMPETE READER SURVEY

GRANDSTANDING LETTERS TO COMPETE MAGAZINE (From the July 2015 issue)

WADE DAVIS’ WORLD (May 2015) It was nice to see a person of color on the cover of Compete. It is difficult enough to be a gay man in today’s world but to be an openly out gay black man, well it is even harder. Wade Davis is a fine example for those of us wanting to come out but afraid of what the world will think.

Favorite Summer Sport?

Other 12%

Martin Johnson Denver (via email)

Baseball/ Softball 43%

Volleyball 19%

THUMB’S UP (June 2015) I was so glad to see that you gave Caitlyn Jenner (then known as Bruce Jenner) a well deserved “Thumbs Up.” Now, after seeing Caitlyn Jenner’s cover on Vanity Fair I realized that Jenner is much more than a hero to not only the transgendered, but to the entire LGBT community for that matter. Congratulations to Caitlyn and kudos to Compete’s classy thumb’s up.

Swimming/ Diving 26%

Kim Garcia Los Angeles (via email) TALK TO US! Submissions to Compete should include the writer’s name, address and contact phone number and should be sent by email to letters@competenetwork.com. Letters may be edited by Compete and become the property of Media Out Loud, LLC.

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SPORTS KICKOFF

QUIZ

?

Who was the first hockey player to win Sportsman of the Year honors from Sports Illustrated?

Source: www.usefultrivia.com

A. Bobby Orr, who was named “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated in 1970, making him the first hockey player to receive the award. He also won league MVP honors that year and led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup Championship.

THUMBS UP THUMBS DOWN (From the December 2015 issue)

GO! ATHLETES … for the launch of a national Mentorship Program to connect current and former studentathletes who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, or queer (LGBTQ). The program, which is free and open to the public, is currently accepting applications for both mentors and mentees at www.goathletes.org/mentorship/.

BULGARIAN WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION … for 11 weightlifters testing positive for doping during the qualifying period for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. The International Weightlifting Federation executive board has banned Bulgaria from competing at Rio.

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PRESIDENT BARAK OBAMA … for awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to baseball greats Yogi Berra and Willy Mays. It is the highest civilian honor awarded to those who have “made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

U.S. SOCCER … for taking steps to reduce youth concussions by eliminating heading for players under the age of 10 and limiting heading for players ages 11-13 to practice only. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of brain injury because their brains are still developing.

MEET FALLON FOX A True Fighter

BY CONNIE WARDMAN PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOMBA IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY

(From the August 2015 issue)

T

he first transgender fighter in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Fallon Fox is definitely a force to be reckoned with. She is also one of two athletes featured in the recently released awardwinning documentary, “Game Face,” by Belgian-born, Los Angeles-based filmmaker and director, Michiel Thomas.

While Fox is a winning fighter in the cage, she is also an influential advocate for the transgender community, having received an Emery Award in 2013 from the Hetrick Martin Institute (HMI) for her LGBT advocacy efforts and in 2014 she was named to the Trans 100 list of prominent and influential transgender individuals actively working to improve life for the transgender community.

For those whose only knowledge about transgender individuals starts and ends with Laverne Cox of “Orange is the New Black” and Caitlyn Jenner, to gain an understanding of what it means to be a transgender athlete, it’s important to know the complexity of life, the everyday struggles they must face. Fortunately, Fox has the courage to face her opponents in all phases of her professional and personal life, finally living openly and honestly as the woman she always knew she was from the time she was a six-yearold boy.

One of the huge hurdles to overcome for trans athletes is the question of how hormones affect their performance and whether or not they have an unfair advantage competing against those whose gender is the one with which they identify.

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The question of unfair advantage by transgender athletes has now been answered definitively by the medical community involved in transgender medicine. These athletes do not have an unfair advantage. Yet it continues to haunt transgender athletes like Fox due to a lack of awareness as well as old-fashioned bigotry.

According to current medical findings, after taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for a specified time, transgender individuals should be allowed to compete with their legal gender. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) set its policy on transgender athletes in 2004 with the following rules to compete: • THEY MUST HAVE HAD GENDER REASSIGNMENT SURGERY • THE MUST HAVE LEGAL RECOGNITION OF THEIR ASSIGNED GENDER • THEY MUST HAVE AT LEAST TWO YEARS OF HORMONE THERAPY In an interview about Fallon Fox, Dr. Marci Bowers explains why Fox has “no effective competitive advantage”

as a transgender woman.

With HRT, physical strength diminishes and both muscle mass and bone density decrease. Bowers adds that post-operative transgender women typically have less testosterone that their competitors, something that Fox confirms. “Any of the women I’m competing against,” she said, “my testosterone levels are drastically lower than theirs; it’s almost nothing.”

At 5-foot-6 and weighing between 135-to-145 pounds, depending on whether or not she’s in training for a fight, Fox will be 40 this coming November. According to the Sherdog MMA website, she has won five of her six professional fights – MMA is her passion. And she has earned the respect and support of many in the MMA community who not only admire her skill as a fighter but also her courage to face the ignorance and anger of her detractors.

Fox is not a publicity hound out for 15-minutes of fame nor is she a cross dresser or a drag queen. Fox is a pioneer, blazing a trail for other transgender and transsexual athletes and non-athletes alike to be able to live an authentic life. As with all pioneers, in addition to the honors and awards she receives from those who admire her courage, she also faces the brunt of peoples’ prejudices, anger and degrading insults from those who are offended and frightened by what they don’t understand.

Not simply a respected athlete, she is also a talented artist and writer as well as a devoted mom to her daughter – she is a bright, intelligent woman who earns the respect of those who get to know her. I first met her in 2013 not long after she came out and I continue to be impressed by her. If you don’t know what it means to be transsexual (meaning you don’t identify with your birth gender), if you don’t understand transgender biology, if you can’t walk the proverbial mile in someone else’s shoes, she will educate you with straight talk in a calm but direct manner; she pulls no punches, either inside or outside the MMA cage.

Although she’s often referred to as transgender, she feels that term is too broad for her personal experience – she considers herself to be part of the transsexual category within the broader transgender umbrella. “What happened with me is something specific,” she said. “I’m a transsexual woman.” Even though she’s very articulate, Fox admits it’s hard for her to verbalize what it feels like to know deep in your heart that your birth gender is the wrong one. “It’s hard” she says, “because the phrase ‘woman trapped in a man’s body’ is thrown around a lot, but that’s like shorthand. It’s deeper than that. There’s so much more to it.”

Fox didn’t set out to become a spokesperson for the transgender community – she just wanted to finally have the physical body that matched who she was emotionally, she wanted to finally feel comfortable in her own skin and just live her life like everyone else. In an interview with The New York Times just months after she came out she said that “I want the public to know how it feels, the fear of being scrutinized, of being outed. … I don’t want to talk about it, really,” she said. “I don’t want to. I never set out to do this. But I have to.”

The reason she had to talk about it? It was the dreaded “call” she’d been anticipating for some time, letting her know that her medical records, what she had regarded as part of her personal and private information, had finally been invaded. It came from a reporter with an MMA news site asking about her medical history.

While Fox had always planned to share her story, she wanted to do it on her own terms. But now, refusing to lie about her circumstances and unwilling to share the story with the reporter making the call, on March 5, 2013 she went direct to Sports Illustrated (SI) with her story which appeared on the SI website. To fully understand the traumatic impact of that call, you first need to know her background.

The facts are that Fallon Fox started life as Boyd Burton, the middle child of strict and homophobic Evangelical Christian parents with Pentecostal roots in the economically depressed area of Toledo, Ohio. Always more comfortable with women and girls, she wanted to be like them and, as a child, she thought all males felt the same way.

Her interest in sports had started in high school where she joined the wrestling team to protect herself, both at school and in her violent neighborhood. With a slight build and a café au lait complexion thanks to her ethnically-mixed heritage, she faced racially-provoked beatings “from both sides.”

Adolescence only added a deeper compulsion to have a female body and more confusion about her sexual iden-

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tity. It wasn’t until she was 17 that she heard the word “transgender” on a television program – it’s what gave her a first inkling about what might be going on in her life. When Fox eventually came out to her parents, their response was to send her for gay conversion therapy.

While her deeply embedded desire to be a woman never changed, she really worked at trying to “fix” herself. She said that everything was on the line – not being “fixed” could mean the loss of her family, her friends, even her daughter, of going to eternal hell with no reprieve. So if the therapy worked, if she could be “fixed,” she wanted to try to make it work.

First thinking she might be gay, Fox had grown up experimenting, trying to discover what was right for her while still following her family’s expected traditional path for their “son.” After getting her girlfriend pregnant, Fox did the “right thing” and got married at 19, joining the Navy to take care of her new family. But her internal churning never stopped. So after a fouryear enlistment and some time at the University of Toledo, her world fell apart due to all the psychological stress she was under – she recognized that she was at a critical crossroad in her life.

Her “feelings of gender,” as she describes it, were so intense she knew she had to figure out what to do about her life. “My hair was falling out, which wasn’t good for my psyche,” she said, “and I knew I couldn’t wait because the longer you spend not transitioning, the more the effects of aging make the transition

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not so pleasant.” At that point she decided to focus on her transition process and how to fund it. The process is extensive and expensive – it is certainly not what some people might assume is the easy thing to do.

She also sat her then-four year old daughter down for a talk. “I told her that I felt I should have been born a woman and that it was really, really important to me. I told her the doctor was going to help me become a woman.” To which her daughter responded, “Oh cool. Can we do something else now?” Recounting this story Fox said “She took it well. I think when kids are younger, they don’t have these preconceived notions of what a transsexual person is.”

At that point Fox dropped out of college and for the next several years was a long-distance trucker to fund her transition process. Finally in 2006, after a period of required hormone replacement therapy and dressing like a woman, she made an 8,000-mile, 17-hour trip to Thailand for gender reassignment surgery, breast augmentation and hair transplant surgery at the Bangkok National Hospital. After a six-week recovery stay, Fallon Fox flew back to the U.S. as the woman she always knew she was. She later had facial surgeries to remove the heavier male features – her hairline was raised, her brow was lifted and her jaw line was smoothed out.

Once again, she did it all alone; she divorced in 2007 and no longer speaks to her parents. Moving to Chicago, she built a new life as a single mom with total custody of her daughter, this time driving a

school bus and working as a diesel truck mechanic to support them.

It was during her trips to the gym to get her body back in shape that she discovered MMA. Seeing women fight and earn respect inspired her. She happened to see a video on female MMA fighter Megumi Fujii and videos of other women fighters, saying she really admired their combined toughness and femininity. “It was like, wow, women are fighting,” she said. “They were doing it bare knuckles. No gloves. I wanted to do that.” MMA has grown beyond its bare knuckle roots, however – fighters now wear four ounce gloves.

What she really likes about MMA is what she calls its “intelligent aggression” and “three-dimensional fighting” where you use all your mental and physical capacities to gain an advantage over your opponent. In 2010 her quest to become an MMA fighter began in earnest when she went to the Midwest Training Center in the Chicago area and began serious training that included Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling and ground and pound-specific training.

By the next year she had turned professional.

While she was willing to reveal her medical history to licensing commissions, she had never wanted it to be open knowledge for her opponents and fans.

But since she was the first MMA transgender female fighter, there were questions about licensing her – the rules hadn’t before included this possibility. It raised

the question if someone who was born male could be allowed to fight as a female against other females.

It was immediately following her second professional match on March 2, 2013 against Ericka Newsome in Coral Gables, Florida when “the call” came that prompted her to take control of the situation and call SI to share her story.

It was the public release of her personal medical records that triggered the question of whether or not transgender athletes have an unfair advantage over their competitors, particularly trans women. And while it was a legitimate one to be examined, sadly, in many cases it took on the aspect of an old-fashioned witch hunt, used as an unexamined assumption to support and defend people’s sexist and homophobic/transphobic prejudices. Something, unfortunately, that Fox and other trans athletes continue to face today.

The reality is that Fox will forever be known as the first transgender MMA fighter – she will never have a truly private life again no matter how much she longs for it. But she also won’t back away from her unintended role as a trans activist – in her own words, “I’m a fighter … so I will fight this battle until the end.”

For more information on Fallon Fox, go to www.fallonfox.com For more information on the “Game Face” documentary, go to www.gamefacedoc.com.

www.CompeteNetwork.com

| COMPETE | 19

Billy Bean CHANGING THE CULTURE OF BASEBALL

BY CONNIE WARDMAN (From the May 2015 issue)

AS MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL (MLB) celebrated Jackie Robinson Day on April 15, the 68th anniversary of the iconic No. 42 Brooklyn Dodger taking Ebbets Field and breaking the color barrier in professional sports, MLB has another historic first to celebrate. This year marks the first time its recently-appointed inclusion ambassador, Billy Bean—former closeted major league player and now openly gay man—spent the five-weeks of spring training flying between Arizona and Florida, working to change the culture of baseball from one of homophobia to one of acceptance and inclusion.

He’s only visited the teams that have invited him, the Mets, Tigers, Phillies, Yankees, Cardinals, Red Sox, A’s, Reds, Astros and Angels to name a few. But with 30 major league teams, over 200 minor league teams, league administrators and coaches with MLB’s Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program, Bean has his work cut out for him. Understanding that changing a culture doesn’t happen overnight, his approach isn’t based on immediate change— Bean is in it for the long haul.

Billy Bean’s love for the game he played professionally from 1987 to 1995 has never changed, never

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lessened in intensity. But he had to play as a closeted gay man since being openly gay at that time would have undoubtedly ruined his career; adding to that was the fact that he hadn’t yet come out to his family.

In shock when his partner died of HIV-related causes, he abruptly retired from the game. He moved to Florida so he could privately grieve the loss of the man he loved and come to terms with his own identity. Then in 1999 Bean finally came out to Diane Sawyer in a TV interview and followed it up with his book, “Going the Other Way: Lessons From a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball.”

When I first interviewed him in 2013, Bean had recently moved to West Hollywood and was selling real estate in the Beverly Hills area. He also had been asked to be a special guest for San Diego LGBT Pride’s Out at the Park event at a Padres game, something that thrilled him.

He said, “I keep thinking that if there is a gay player in either one of the dugouts that night, and if they see me, how it might affect them?

If I had seen a former player walk on a major league field who was openly gay while I was playing, I know that I would’ve never quit.”

Of all the teams he’d played on and places he’d played, Bean really loved both the team and the area, saying it was where he felt most at home. After the event he posted the following on his Facebook page: “I couldn’t help but wish I had been strong enough to reach out to this community when I was on the team. ... I would have never quit playing for the team and city I love so much.

Thank you for allowing me to share such a wonderful day with all of you.”

Around the same time a similar idea was brewing in the mind of MLB’s Paul Mifsud, a labor relations attorney who had just read Bean’s book. Earlier in 2013 the New York attorney general’s office had requested a meeting with all New York-based sports leagues to discuss how to handle LGBT inclusion. MLB decided it was time to make “meaningful steps” toward inclusion for its LGBT players and employees so Mifsud invited Bean to visit MLB’s New York headquarters to “give his opinions on some things.” Bean had hardly gotten back to Los Angeles from the meeting when Mifsud called and asked if he’d consider working with the league.

While the job of inclusion ambassador is new, the truth is that

proud heritage of Jackie Robinson, Bean has always been an advocate Bean wants players to take this for positive social change. Seeing new opportunity to step up to the this as a full-circle moment, Bean plate and become great leaders. understands that as the only openly Having heard all the hategay man who has played profesful, derogatory and marginalizing sional baseball, he’s the one who can remarks about gays while he was bridge both worlds. Understanding playing, Bean says “players have to the world of baseball and all the know that’s not OK. It’s no different pressures involved, he’s the one who than it was with women in media can start a conversation about what and women trainers.” But he also it means to be a gay man playing baseball. Bean feels a huge responsibility to the players to show them “a constant, relatable image” of a gay man, realizing that for some, this may be the first conversation they’ve knowingly had with a gay person.

Far from trying to influence closeted players to come out as some have speculated, Bean’s real goal is to create a culture of acceptance. Noting that “it’s still uncomfortable for players to want to talk about this,” Bean isn’t surprised that they aren’t asking many questions in a group format. But he went on to say that “players and off-field personnel are reaching out individually. They have to know,” he said, “that acceptance is part of the job of playing in Photo by Dale Stine Photography the big leagues,” they have wants players to know that he’s to understand what it means when protective of them. He’s hoping to they put on a big league uniform that open minds so that strong, healthy, there is a workplace code of conduct. supportive relationships without He also wants them to underregard to sexual orientation become stand the importance of straight the rule so the best person to do the allies, particularly to LGBT youth job is the one who is chosen, saying trying to find sports heroes who “we’ve got to take away the stigma.” aren’t homophobic but instead are Not everyone agrees with Bean, accepting of everyone who loves such as Mets second baseman Daniel baseball. With MLB’s already-

Murphy who said as a devout Christian he thought he could accept an openly gay teammate but couldn’t agree with Bean’s homosexual lifestyle, saying, “We love the people. We disagree with the lifestyle.” In spite of criticism of Murphy’s remarks from others, Bean’s reaction on his blog was to appreciate that “Daniel spoke his truth. He was brave to share his feelings,” he said, “and it made me want to work harder and be a better example that someday might allow him to view things from my perspective, if only for just a moment.”

While Bean has been speaking to various people within the league since his appointment, spring training is really just the early stage of his work with teams and players one-on-one.

Through their common passion for baseball, Bean’s goal is to bring the MLB and LGBT communities together in a supportive, mutually respectful way.

Fortunately for us all, Bean understands the old proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. He asks players to think about the influence they have on the kids who look up to them as heroes—“Are we raising bullies, or are we raising leaders?” Both profound and provocative, Bean’s question is one for all sports organizations to ponder.

Once again the leader after 68 years, thanks go not only to MLB and what Bean calls the “great visionaries” in the commissioner’s office but also to Bean, himself for taking this important new step forward in the sports diversity movement.

www.CompeteNetwork.com

| COMPETE | 21

GO! ATHLETES Visibility, Education and Advocacy

BY CHRIS MOSIER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GO! ATHLETES

(From the June 2015 issue)

VISIBILITY IS POWERFUL. In my own coming out process as a transgender man and competitive athlete, I struggled considering how I could transition and still play sports because I didn’t see any trans guys in athletics competing at the level at which I wanted to compete. Like many others questioning their identity, I felt like I was the only one going through this, and it was a challenge to navigate my transition without a role model or mentor along the way.

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| COMPETE | January 2016

W

e all want, in some way, to see ourselves reflected back when we look out into the world. As a trans athlete, I no longer feel I am searching for a mirror—I feel as though I am the reflection, and that I have an obligation to younger athletes to be visible as a trans athlete so they see the possibilities for themselves.

As the executive director of GO! Athletes, I can proudly say that is exactly what we do. GO! Athletes is a support network of current and former lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer college and high school student-athletes. GO! Athletes provides visibility for LGBTQ athletes through story sharing and personal narratives. In panel discussions, presentations and workshops, we spread awareness about the challenges faced by LGBTQ student-athletes, how best to be an ally and support them and ways to make athletic teams and departments more inclusive.

Stepping into the executive director role has been a good opportunity for me to incorporate my knowledge of transgender inclusion in athletics into the conversation about studentathletes. As the founder of TransAthlete.com, a resource for athletes, coaches and administrators on transinclusive policies at various levels of play, and through personal experience, I know there is no standard for trans-inclusion in sports at this point.

GO! Athletes’ network has had access

to educational sessions about transinclusion in sports, and been able to incorporate the “T” into their LGBTQ talks on campuses and in public forums.

The strength of GO! Athletes is in its network which contains much of the young, vibrant and eager energy of the LGBTQ sports movement. We reach out to younger athletes who share their stories and make sure they feel connected. Within our net-

work athletes can find support, share their stories and learn how to be better leaders on their teams, at their schools and in their communities.

On our network calls, athletes can discuss initiatives or issues at their schools as well as find support for situations they have encountered.

We continue to strengthen and expand our network as more people come out in sports. And more people come out in sports because of the visibility of those before them.

It’s a cycle that is changing the landscape of athletics as we know it. The future of GO! Athletes is focused on the combination of visibility, educa-

tion and advocacy within the LGBTQ sports movement.

Later this year we will launch a first-of-its-kind program to strengthen our network connections and the skills of young leaders in the LGBTQ sports community.

We are extremely excited to enhance the level of support current and former athletes will receive and be able to extend it to others. It’s something I feel strongly about when remembering my own experiences.

More information will be available on our website, goathletes.org later this summer.

I highly encourage current and former athletes of any age or level of play to join us in making it easier and safer for other athletes to be themselves. There are a number of ways people of any competitive level, age or level of “outness” can be involved in our network. For more information, see goathletes.org or email me at chris@goathletes.org.

www.CompeteNetwork.com

| COMPETE | 23

WHY HE LOVES SPORTS: Physical activity keeps your endorphins high and your mood elevated. The side effect is looking good.

BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE: My thighs.

DISLIKES: People who don’t respond when you say good morning.

LIKES: Jogging, the beach, dancing and spending time with friends.

INTERESTS: WWII history and cooking fun foods.

FAVORITE TEAM: The Cubs

FAVORITE ATHLETE: Tom Brady

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Partnered

SPORTS PLAYED: Rugby, soccer, softball.

SPORT: Softball

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Chicago

HOMETOWN: Chicago

JOHNNY PEREZ

TEAM COMPETE MVP

To be included in our MVP section, e-mail: MVP@competenetwork.com

Photography by Baron L. Clay, Jr. (FStopPhotography) Chicago, IL.

ATHLETE

TRANSGENDER ATHLETE SAVANNAH BURTON REPRESENTS CANADA AT WORLD DODGEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

BY CONNIE WARDMAN (From the July 2015 issue) WHEN THE WORLD DODGEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP was held last month in Las Vegas, the Canadian women’s team included Savannah Burton, her country’s first out transgender athlete in a team sport participating in a world championship. I had a chance to talk with her about her coming out experience and how she navigated the process of being approved to play on a national team of women, the gender with which she identifies.

An actress by profession, Burton now sees her larger role as a transgender advocate. She understands from her own experience that young transgender athletes are looking for a trans sports role model to emulate. They want to see another trans athlete competing, making it in the sports world with other athletes.

Burton has also identified another important personal goal—she wants to change the policy of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and any other organizations that have an additional requirement for a trans athlete to have gender reassignment surgery before they can be eligible to play.

It’s important to her that people understand that gender reassignment surgery has no bearing on athletic performance. It doesn’t benefit an athlete—what it does do is put a transgender athlete at a disadvantage. Many don’t want the surgery and for those who do, most of them can’t afford the cost. Burton feels that it’s really unethical to require gender reassignment surgery in order to participate in sporting events.

Chosen to share her story with The Transgender Project, an online collection of personal stories of transgender women and men from across Canada, the site is meant to educate, entertain and inspire its readers about the diversity that exists within the trans community. The comment on Burton’s story says, “We focus on her fight to compete for Canada as a woman in international sport without undergoing sex reassignment surgery as dictated by IOC rules for transgender participation.” And in the fall the documentary “Am I a Boy or Girl” featuring Burton will air.

A native of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, she’s been living in Toronto for the past 15 years. Burton has always loved sports. She’s a competitive dodgeball player, white-water kayaker and baseball player. But her

PHOTOS BY JESSY HAAVEN

early self-doubts, her fear that people would discover she was transgender had only caused her to become increasingly isolated.

www.CompeteNetwork.com

| COMPETE | 27

ATHLETE

Burton feels this fear of being “outed” caused her to fall short of the truly elite athlete she could have been in her younger years. Her move to Toronto left Burton more at ease with herself. It also prompted her to train harder, working to hone her athletic ability. And by 2012 she played on the men’s team representing Canada at the 2012 World Dodgeball World Championship in Malaysia where Canada won the silver medal.

But she still hadn’t made the transition from male to the female she always knew she was meant to be. At that point Burton decided to step away from sports to work on her personal transition. She spent the next two years on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) taking testosterone blockers and in September 2013 she began to live full-time as a woman.

As she became happier with herself, her love of sports prompted her desire to compete again and she began the process of trying out for the women’s dodgeball team this time. Burton’s request marked the first time the Canadian Dodgeball Association had to deal with the question of trans athletes as participants.

Association spokesperson Bethel Lascano said they took the question to dodgeball’s international governing body. They decided that to participate, Burton needed to have a legal sex change and receive HRT for a “sufficient length of time.” Since Burton had already met their criteria, they approved her request to play.

Burton confesses to being really nervous about making her dodgeball comeback, saying “… it was great; people were so cool and so nice to me.” And this time when she tried out, Burton was one of eight women chosen to make the Canadian women’s team that played in the 2015 World Dodgeball World Championship in Las Vegas.

When I asked her about her experience playing in a world tournament as a woman, Burton said that “The dodgeball community was amazing and many players came up to me and said very positive things to me. I feel very fortunate to be able to be a part of such a wonderful team with so many amazing people and talented athletes.”

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Photo courtesy of Savannah Burton

Pictured above, Henry Beam, Beam Law, PLC

SPORTS

BI-ANNUAL CYCLEDELIC FESTIVAL & RIDE Promoting Bike Safety in a Free Night-Time Event PHOTOS BY JEFF HOCKER (From the April 2015 issue) THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS’ Office of Sustainability in cooperation with the Palm Springs Bike Coalition, Hot Purple Energy and Hocker Productions will present Cycledelic. This colorful, fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark bike ride and vendor festival will take place Thursday, April 30, coinciding with the weekly Villagefest in downtown Palm Springs—all part of the non-motorized transportation initiative to encourage more bike riding.

Cycledelic is a FREE, fun and easy downtown loop bike ride suitable for all ages. All bike riders are required to wear helmets and obey all traffic laws, signage and routes for Cycledelic. Bike riders will gather at the festival area located at the Northwest corner of Tahquitz Canyon Way situated between Palm Canyon Drive and Belardo Road starting at 6:00 p.m. Pilates Plus will host stretching and free spinning classes onsite to get warmed up for the ride.

Big Wheel Tours will offer bike rentals and PS Cyclery will offer bike valet service.

While supplies last, bike lights and glow in the dark decorations will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. A short instruction seminar will be given at approximately 7:15 p.m. focusing on bike safety, tips to navigate vehicle traffic, locking your bike and what gear should be worn for nighttime riding.

Cycledelic would not be possible without the support of the City of Palm Springs Office of Sustainability, Villagefest, Hot Purple Energy, Palm Springs Cyclery, Pilates Plus and Chandler Coldwell. Also supporting the event are Arrowhead Spring Water, Big Wheel Tours, Nature’s Health Food and Café, CREE Network, EOS Fitness, Palm Springs Police Department, Mix 100.5 FM, Compete Magazine, City of Palm Springs Park and Recreation Department and Friend’s of CV Link.

Cyclists will meet on Tahquitz Canyon Way between Palm Canyon Drive and Belardo Road in Palm Springs between 6:00-7:00 p.m. At 7:30 riders will take off traveling southbound on South Belardo Road. Riders will ride over the Richard M. Milanovich Memorial Bridge and continue on Belardo until they reach the curve just before it intersects with South Palm Canyon Drive, doing two loops to complete the seven-mile fun ride. PS Cyclery will provide bike valet until 10:00 p.m.

For updates, visit HealthyPlanetHealthyYouPS.com or the Palm Springs Office of Sustainability at YourSustainableCity.com.

www.CompeteNetwork.com

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SPORTS

TRENT TAYLOR

Born to Run ... The Boston Marathon

BY BRIAN PATRICK (From the June 2015 issue)

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TRENT TAYLOR

TRENT TAYLOR, TEAM COMPETE’S MVP IN APRIL, is a man who loves to run, something he comes by naturally. Half-Navaho and half-Hopi, Taylor is a greatnephew of Louis Tewanima, a member of the Hopi Nation and a two-time Olympic runner and silver medalist in 1912 for the 10,000 meter run. A Hopi running legend, his family holds an annual race dedicated to him, called the Louis Tewanima Footrace.

Taylor, who grew up on the Navaho side, has always loved a variety of sports but his love for running came later in life. It was just five years ago that he ran his first 5K race—fittingly, it was the Louis Tewanima Footrace. Now bitten by the running bug, at age 34 Taylor set goals to participate in an Ironman 140.6 event and to run in the 2015 Boston Marathon.

He met his Ironman goal in Tempe, Arizona in November 2014.

“My goal was 10:30 and a top 200 finish. I ended up finishing in 98th place and a time of 10:06!! I couldn’t believe it!!,” said Taylor. After taking a few weeks for gradual recovery he said “I was ready to focus on the Boston Marathon.”

For Boston, Taylor’s goal was a sub 2:40, a number he says is roughly just seconds shy of a sixminute mile pace; that works out to approximately 10 miles-per-hour.

That, said Taylor is “a tough task for anyone let alone a third-year runner (me). I was increasing my mileage every week and adding additional speed workouts on the track.”

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| COMPETE | 33

Finally it was time to head to Boston with his companion Gary.

They visited some of Taylor’s family living in the area and did a bit of sightseeing before race day.

The day of the race was cold and rainy but the good news for Taylor was that he loves running in those conditions. After being transported to the race starting point by a fleet of school buses that took an hour, everyone wound up standing under a huge tent for another hour before the race started.

When the gun went off, it was too crowded to run fast. But when the crowd began to thin out Taylor picked up his pace to regain time lost at the start. By the halfway point he says he was “looking and feeling pretty good, 1:18:30 a minute and half under goal pace of 2:40.” By mile 20 though, his quadriceps and left foot were starting to feel the beating but the cheering fans and race volunteers help runners keep going.

Hitting the home stretch Taylor was feeling strong, crossing the finish line with a time of 2:38:36 – under his go time of 2:40! After a rose, huge hug and a kiss from Gary, he had a hot shower and then they met up with his family for brunch. Taylor heard later that he was the first non-professional Arizona runner to finish the race; he came in at 219th place out of 30,000+ runners who started.

Trent Taylor has definitely inherited his great uncle Louis Tewanima’s love of running and done him proud.

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| COMPETE | January 2016

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SPORTS

WHAT WOULD TOM WADDELL SAY? Archival Documents Allow Gay Games Founder To Add His Voice To The Current One World Event Discussions

BY SHAMEY CRAMER (From the September 2015 issue)

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| COMPETE | January 2016

In his pitch for supporting the work of the IGOA and an equitable site selection procedure, Dr. Waddell called for equal representation by continent during the voting process.

In 1983, all these issues were internal discussions, long before the massive growth of the LGBTIQ sports world spurred by the inaugural Gay Games—a world that now includes international governing bodies, annual multisport events with 5,000–6,000 participants, and multiple sport teams and activities in most urban centres. How do we bring a sense of order to all of this uncontrolled growth so that participation remains the primary focus?

In the transcripts, Dr. Waddell states: “I would hope that the Gay Games would continue to be not an event of becoming the best but to provide equal opportunity for everyone to do their best, for the sheer joy and hell of it. That’s what makes these Games different from any other.”

Regardless of what the future holds, the words of our founder still guide the FGG in our mission, one that provides an equal opportunity for everyone to address the issues of homophobia, sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination—a mission of Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best.™ Shamey Cramer was founder/co-chair of Team Los Angeles (1982-1985, 2002) and president of the Los Angeles 2006 Gay Games VII bid finalist (2000-2004). He captured a bronze medal at Gay Games VIII – Cologne 2010 as a member of West Hollywood Aquatics water polo and serves as officer of ceremonies for the Federation of Gay Games (2011-present).

GGIV (NYC, 1994) Photo: Federation of Gay Games

A RECENT MEMO of Understanding signed by the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) and Gay & Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA) considers the possibility for a partnership between the two governing bodies to produce a single, quadrennial LGBTIQ sport and culture festival with human GGI Opening Photo: Lisa Kanemoto rights components in 2022. The next step in the process known as One World Event (1WE) will be to clarify the event name and its site selection process, among other things.

As founder of Team Los Angeles, I worked with the late Gay Games founder Dr. Thomas F. Waddell and ten others from May 1982 to June 1985 to create the International Gay Olympic Association (IGOA), the first international governing body created to perpetuate the Gay Games.

Being the archivist that I am, I retrieved my copy of transcripts from a meeting hosted by Dr. Waddell in San Francisco on April 9, 1983. Interestingly, the issues we are dealing with today were the same issues we dealt with then.

The lawsuit by the United States Olympic Committee to prevent us from using the word “Olympic” was underway.

A healthy discussion ensued, including Dr. Waddell; Peter Todd, representing the Free Australian Athletic Association; Jean-Nickolaus Tretter, representing the Minnesota Lesbian/Gay Committee of the International Gay Olympic Association, whose membership was 65 percent female; and others about whether or not it should remain being called simply the Gay Games.

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SPORTS

MEET K MARIE

Compete’s 2014 Inspiring Athlete of the Year

BY CONNIE WARDMAN (From the February 2015 issue) COMPETE’S INSPIRING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR for 2014 is K Marie. Like many Compete sports lovers, she is an openly gay, multi-sport athlete—she bowls, kayaks, boogie boards, hikes and rock climbs. What makes her so inspiring? Although she’s blind, she still lives life on her own terms.

In spite of all her challenges, K, as she prefers to be called exhibits a joie de vivre that is absolutely contagious.

Wearing her standard uniform of shorts and the tie-dye shirts she makes herself, she says her daily routine at home includes walking into a wall, getting lost in her garage and trying to pick sunshine up off the floor. Recognizing that her daily reality isn’t like everyone else’s, she’s truly thankful that she can continue to do all she does.

Coming from a small town in rural Virginia, K was diagnosed as near-sighted at age three but never got the proper treatment. As a result, her vision continued to diminish through her junior and senior high school years, causing some teachers to label her as a “slow” student. Although she now has only one percent of her vision left, she has never let that stop her from doing something she wants to do.

Always a bright and creative child, her family never supported her interests in writing, art and the theatre. In a bittersweet moment, her mother once shared with her that because she felt K’s life was already so difficult, she didn’t want to encourage her daughter in areas she thought would only add more difficulty to her life.

With a life-long dream of working for Disney as a set designer, K started college as a technical theatre major but one of her professors counseled her to choose a different career. There was no question she had the talent but in a career that required quick product turnaround, he felt her vision impairment wouldn’t enable her to support herself adequately.

Taking his advice, she transferred to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia where she graduated with a degree in psychology. In addition to required courses, she took art classes as well as courses in kayaking and rock climbing. Prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, many professors simply didn’t know what to do with her. And while three of them told her they didn’t want her in their classes, she didn’t always take “no” for an answer. K continued to persevere, telling me that over the years she has learned to choose her battles carefully.

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| COMPETE | January 2016

Photo by Thomas Fleisher, BarePhoo(t) Fo(t)o Studio Selling her contemporary ceramic studio at age 48 to move to Phoenix for better job opportunities for her partner of 14 years, her partner walked out on Christmas morning, leaving K to forge a new life for herself in a new city.

Part of her transformation included getting back into bowling, something she had quit in her 20s due to her vision.

Hearing that there was a gay bowling league, she joined the “Family Affair” team, part of the Phoenix Unified Gay Bowling Alliance (PUGBA). She is a regular local league bowler and also attends some of the regional tournaments.

Additionally, K indulges her love of water by continuing to kayak by herself in Phoenix’s Salt River and boogie board in the ocean. She has also hiked the Grand Canyon without a guide but said she would never attempt that again on her own—it takes her too long to get down and back in a day.

Incredibly, her life has now come full circle. K’s first love as a child was writing. With a bedroom awash in pieces of paper, at age 14 her mother finally gave her a bound blank notebook. Although she could still see, the first poem K wrote in it was about being blind. When her mother read it she was profoundly upset and in tears.

It proved to be a traumatic event for K, too. Realizing for the first time how her words had the power to so completely confound her mother, she vowed never to write again. Since her move to Phoenix, however, she has begun to write once more. Finishing two books of adult fiction already under the pen name of K, she has also written some children’s books.

If you are ever lucky enough to spot a woman at a bowling alley in shorts wearing either a tie-dye or Mickey Mouse t-shirt and having fun, spend some time with her.

We promise—you’ll be as inspired as we are!

Note: K’s books, “Miserable Convenience” and “Sinister Minister” are available on Amazon in the Kindle and Nook store.

SPORTS

GOLFERS TEED OFF AT COMPETE’S 2015 CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC

BY CONNIE WARDMAN (From the October 2015 issue) THE WEATHER WAS PERFECT FOR COMPETE’S CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC held last month at the beautiful Starfire Golf Course in Phoenix. Golfers enjoyed the wonderfully sunny day while raising money “fore” Aunt Rita’s Foundation that raises and distributes funds to Central Arizona programs that prevent HIV/AIDS or assists those living with HIV/AIDS. As you can see from the photos, a great time was had by all. A big thanks to all the golfers and our sponsors for such a great time!

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| COMPETE | January 2016

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HOT ITEMS YOU SHOULDN’T DO WITHOUT (From the October 2015 issue)

The TITIN Force™ flexible weight system is evenly distributed across your body.

The TITIN gels, which can be used hot or cold for use as thermotherapy or a mobile ice bath, are located on major muscle groups and held tightly to the body by the compression shirt. Made from material that is both wicking and anti-microbial, the gear comes in both a shirt system and a shorts system that can be used during a workout or for post-workout recovery. For hypergravity training, the weight placement ensures that no joints will be affected yet you’ll boost the efficiency of your workouts, improving speed, balance, endurance and vertical leap. In a test by industry experts, athletes who warmed up or pre-loaded with a TITIN Force™ shirt system saw measurable increases called the TITIN Effect—a 25 percent higher lactate threshold, 13 percent increase in vertical leap and an 11 percent increase in endurance.

titintech.com

The well-known French-based tennis brand Babolat has joined forces with Swiss-based PIQ software company to create a wearable wristband specific to tennis.

Compatible with both iOS and Android softwear, the technology enables users to analyze their own performance statistics to track improvement, create challenges, compare and compete with friends via social media and it is compatible with any racket. It calculates metrics such as velocity, height, air time, G-force, amplitude and trajectory without needing to have your smartphone on you while you play. All the complex data is stored on your smartphone while the stroke speed is shown on the wearable’s interface. Additional features allow you to compare your statistics with friends, teammates, even professional players like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal.

play.babolat.us/pop-connected-tennis 42

| COMPETE | January 2016

For diehard baseball/ softball players, Easton is now offering a way to quantify your swing with the Easton Power Sensor powered by Blast Motion. This new sensor helps players improve their swing using more scientific evaluations. Fitting on the top of the knob of any baseball or softball bat, the sensor captures a variety of swing metrics. They can then be matched to a video of the swing that you can take on your smartphone within the Easton Power Sensor App. The sensor tracks five key metrics – timeto-contact, efficiency index, power index, swing speed and blast factor.

The blast factor is a combination of all the different metrics integrated into one consolidated number between zero and 100. You can compare the blast factor to your previous sessions as well as to the metrics of friends and teammates. It can be shared on social media, even emailed to coaches. The sensor is available at Easton’s online store for $149.95

easton.com/baseball/products/ accessories/power-sensor CORSAIR FLASH VOYAGER GO FLASH DRIVE

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THE BABOLAT POP

EASTON POWER SENSOR

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TITIN FORCE™ WEIGHTED COMPRESSION GEAR

Today’s smartphones aren’t known for good storage. Corsair’s Flash Voyager Go is a flash drive that enables Android users to move files easily between your phone and your computer.

It’s small and comes with its own lanyard as well as a micro-USB connector that allows you to plug it directly into an Android phone, allowing you to store phone files like computer files to free space needed for a large movie download, for example. You can then move your files onto any other USB or micro-USB device without needing to go through a cloud locker. If you’re using an older Android device, you can pick up a USB OTG adapter for less than $4.

The Flash Voyager Go costs about $15 for a 16GB stick to $50 for a 64GB model. It’s available on Amazon in a larger variety of sizes and prices can be found on the corsair website.

corsair.com/en/usb-drives/flash-voyager

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UNITING THE WORLD THROUGH SPORTS

OVERTIME

EVENTS

LGBT 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Get Your Pride On! (From the June 2015 issue) WHILE JUNE IS RECOGNIZED AS OFFICIAL PRIDE month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, this coming Fourth of July marks the 50th anniversary of the LGBT civil rights movement. It’s time to get your Pride on! While parades have been the centerpiece of Pride celebrations over the years, many sporting events—races, softball and volleyball tournaments, for example—are now a regular part of Pride and Fourth of July celebrations. But we need to remember the reason for these annual celebrations, vowing to continue our support of the LGBT community and the sports diversity movement.

One of the outcomes of those riots was the creation of Gay Pride, an event that proclaims to the world at large that …

1. People should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity 2. Diversity is a gift, and 3. Sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and can’t be altered intentionally.

With a National Park Service permit for the 50th Anniversary celebration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Equality Forum is organizing the national celebration of the LGBT civil rights movement in collaboration with regional, state and national organizations.

A printed and online publication to commemorate the events from July 2-5, 2015 in Philadelphia will be issued and distributed free of charge to participants at the 50th Anniversary Celebration event and its programs, all of which are free and open to the public. Copies of the publication will also be sent to bookstores and retailers; state and national civil rights organizations; diversity offices of federal and state agencies; Fortune 500 human resources and diversity and inclusion offices; and visitor and convention bureaus across the country.

The collectible publication, titled “Brave and Determined—50 Years of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement,” will highlight the historic events that took place 50 years ago, when heroic LGBT activists from Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia held the first organized demonstrations for equality. Principal among them were Frank Kameny (from Washington, D.C.) and Barbara Gittings (from Philadelphia), considered to be the father and mother of the LGBT civil rights movement.

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| COMPETE | January 2016

CURRENT EVENTS IN 2016 MULTI-SPORT TOURNAMENT Sin City Shootout Las Vegas, Jan. 14-18

BOWLING Alamo City Tournament San Antonio, Jan. 15 Fort Lauderdale Invitational Regional Tournament Fort Lauderdale, Jan. 15 Chuzapalooza Tucson, Jan. 15 Seattle Espresso Cup Seattle, Jan. 29

SOFTBALL Orlando Meltdown Charity Softball Classic Orlando, Jan. 16

RODEO IGRA University Tucson, Jan. 15-17

TENNIS Herb Millro 2016 Seattle, Jan. 2-3 Miami Art Deco Open XXI 2016 Jan. 15-18

VOLLEYBALL Mardi Gras Classic New Orleans, Jan. 16

OVERTIME

SPORTS YEARBOOK THIS MONTH IN SPORTS HISTORY: JANUARY

1

2

Jack Kent Cooke, NHL’s LA Kings owner, fines each player $100 for NOT arguing with referee - 1969

NY Jets sign QB Joe Namath - 1965

8

9

NCAA decides to sponsor women’s championships in 5 sports - 1980

19 New bicycle race “Tour de France” announced - 1903

26

3 George Steinbrenner III buys Yankees from CBS for $12 million - 1973

10

7

NCAA basketball’s David Robinson blocks a record 14 shots - 1986

Globetrotters lose 100-99 to New Jersey Reds, ending 2,495-game win streak - 1971

Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by Tonya Harding’s bodyguard - 1994

1st NFL Playoff Bowl (runner-up bowl)-Detroit beats Cleveland 17-16 - 1961

11

12

13

14

Wham-O Company produces 1st Frisbee - 1957

Horse racing legend Eddie Arcaro wins his 1st race - 1932

15

16

17

18

Chicago Bulls Dennis Rodman kicks cameraman Eugene Amosin in groin - 1997

In one of biggest upsets in NFL history, NY Jets defeat NE Patriots - 2011

Phoenix Suns cancel game with Miami Heat due to racial unrest in Miami - 1989

21

22

23

24

25

U.S. male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton - 1984

Mike Tyson TKOs Larry Holmes in 4 for heavyweight boxing title - 1988

Bob Benoit bowls 1st 300pt game in a televised title match - 1988

Jackie Robinson 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame - 1962

Michael Jordan scores his 10,000th NBA point in his 5th season - 1989

27

28

29

30

31

NFL announces Dallas Cowboys (1960) and Minnesota Vikings (1961) franchises - 1960

Wayne Garland, baseball’s 1st millionaire free agent waived by Indians - 1982

MLB announces players and coaches pick all stars rather than the fans - 1958

17-yr-old Lydia Ko beats Tiger Woods record as youngest #1 golfer in world - 2015

Source: www.brainyhistory.com

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6

Ireland has funeral services for mountaineer Ian McKeever killed by lightning on Mt. Kilimanjaro - 2013

20

WNBA begins filling rosters of Washington Mystics and Detroit Shock - 1998

5

J Edgar Hoover declines 6 figure offer to be president of International Boxing Club - 1953

1st Women’s Golf Tournament held - 1811

1994-95 NHL season begins after a lengthy strike - 1995

4

| COMPETE | January 2016

LAS VEGAS

FEBRUARY 28, 2016

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