Y'all know I have much love for Fallon Fox and I'm looking forward to meeting her in person. I wish the 'Queen of Swords' the best of luck as she gets ready to handle her business inside the octagon on September 13 in Springfield, IL.
And Fallon's probably got some extra motivation to be on her A+ WMMA game with this upcoming opponent after Tamikka Brents flapped her gums and let loose some dog whistle transphobia back on May 25, 2013.
“I am tired of Fox getting all this publicity just for being a transgender fighter rather than having great skills. I think it’s unfair anyway but as long as the opponent knows and accepts the fight then go ahead… I mean Allana took her to the third and she’s not even a 145er; she’s a more of a 135er who can probably go even lower to 125 pounds. She’s using all that attention as a good publicity tactic – go ahead and ride that free publicity train as long as you can. I’ll gladly derail that s#*t quickly so the world can go back to giving the publicity and notice to the female fighters who earn it. It just pisses me off that Women’s MMA has fought to get away from being seen as a side show. She’s using that to further her career while setting Women’s MMA back in the process.”And this from a woman who claims in a November 2012 Bleacher Report piece she wants to be an LGBT advocate. Well, she said she wanted this fight with Fallon bad, and she's about to get her wish.
But let me focus on Tamikka Brents' advocacy, or lack thereof. The only thing you've done is take a rainbow flag a few hundred feet into an octagon twice. I haven't seen op-eds written by you in TIME magazine, the TransAdvocate, or much less my GLAAD Award nominated blog I have yet to see you at an National Black Justice Coalition event or do anything in support of the SGL, trans or bi community.
While you bump your gums in a puff piece about wanting to be an advocate for the LGBT community, Fallon Fox is role modeling it.
So stop hatin'.
And here's your first advocacy lesson, Tamikka. The 'T' in LGBT stands for transgender. Without transfolks like Ms. Fox showing up and showing out at Stonewall in 1969 fighting for everyone's human rights including our own, you wouldn't have a movement to consider being an advocate for.
And what pisses me off Tamikka is you piling on Fallon. She's handled this lemon situation of being outed and the subsequent microaggressive and macroagressive publicity it generated with class and dignity while trying to build her reputation in women's MMA.
She has remained classy as you and several of your women's MMA colleagues like Ronda Rousey, Ashlee Evans-Smith and Allana Jones have been transphobically shady towards her while spouting jaw dropping anti-trans ignorance.
So yeah, looking forward to September 13.
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