The Center for Student Diversity and the Counseling Center at Towson University in Maryland recently hosted a “self-defense workshop for trans, gender non-binary, and gender non-conforming students and their families,” involving an an Irish form of martial arts.
The event, called “Building Trans Community: Self Defense,” took place on March 27.
The class involved Coach Cu’ MCann, an instructor of bataireacht—an Irish form of “stick fighting” originating in the Middle Ages—teaching the martial art to “queer people” and others, as seen from a flyer promoting the event.
Students learned “essential safety skills” and “empower[ed] each other to stand strong in the face of adversity,” as the flyer advertised.
Trans-identifying Coach Cu’ MCann is the founder of Strange Fox Fighting Arts, described as “a traditional combat art where we wield walking sticks to protect our communities & ourselves.” Coach McCann, according to Strange Fox’s website, is a “big old homo with big earth sign energy,” as well as a “semi-retired drag monster.”
Strange Fox is “trans-led” and the classes “center trans & queer people,” but “welcome[s] all who fight by our side.” The group welcomes non-LGBTQ identifying individuals, “as long as yer down to learn in a space that loves trans, queer, and gay people out loud.”
The group strictly follows COVID-19 protocols, requires class participants to use face masks (with N95 or similar masks being “strongly encouraged”), and makes students “practice distancing when unmasking.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Towson University and Coach Cu’ McCann for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
