UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State Pride Week will include a panel discussion on transgender equality in sports featuring Fallon Fox and Kye Allums at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in Freeman Auditorium, HUB Robeson Center.
Allums is a 25-year-old queer, fluid, trans* artist and athlete. In 2011, they graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from George Washington University. In 2010, Kye became the first Division I openly transgender athlete in NCAA history. After graduating, they decided to focus on LGBTQ activism full time and since then has traveled to more than 32 colleges and universities sharing their trans* athlete experience.
Fox is a professional mixed martial arts fighter specializing in the art of Brazilian jiu jitsu, wrestling and muay thai. She is the first openly transgender athlete in MMA history. In 1996 Fallon joined the U.S. Navy as an operations specialist, served honorably for four years and ended her service as an operations specialist second class. After serving, she went on to study at the University of Toledo. In addition to competing, Fallon is pursuing speaking engagements to tell her story, share how mixed martial arts and other contact sports can empower women of all stripes and how all of this fits within her perspective as a feminist.
To see the full calendar of events and for more information about this year’s PRIDE Week events, visit http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/lgbtqa/.