Exploring the experiences of LGBTQ+ athletes and their struggle for acceptance within their sports and within society, this forthright, sincere documentary tracks the parallel stories of the first transgender pro mixed martial arts fighter and a gay college hoops player who is cautiously planning his coming out. Professional MMA fighter Fallon Fox delicately weighs the pros and cons of coming out as transgender in her career and life. Fox confronts public curiosity head-on, paving the way for other transgender athletes as she tackles the press, her sport, and society with audacity and professionalism. With support from openly gay MMA fighter Liz Carmouche and friends like Kye Allums, an openly transgender collegiate athlete, Fox grows, both in and out of the ring.

In a related story, a rising basketball player confronts his ambivalence about whether he should come out to his teammates and the collegiate community. Shunned early in life for being gay, he spends part of his adolescence in jail for fraud. The experience motivates him to passionately pursue a career in basketball, landing him at a two-year college in Oklahoma. With advice from the first openly gay active NBA player, Jason Collins, will he be able to find the right time to come out and make a stand? Filmmaker Michiel Thomas skillfully shatters stereotypes about the athletic closet and reaffirms the central importance of the love of the game for these two tenacious competitors.

— Sean Krainert

AT&T Audience Award Text Voting Code: D311

Co-presented by:

The Perfect Sidekick QUEER GYM