KyaColosseum celebrates her first Pride Month as an out & proud trans woman with a Pokémon fundraiser
Gaming hasn’t seen a rising star like KyaColosseum in quite some time. While she’s only been streaming for two years, this Twitch Partner’s tenure online has been an eventful one. And now, she’s celebrating Pride by proudly coming out and using her platform for good with Pokémon fundraiser for the Gayming Foundation.
Kya rose to fame as a ‘Nuzlocke Master,’ taking on these unique Pokémon playthroughs where players have to discard any pokémon that have fainted and try to beat the entire game while constantly resetting their battle roster. It’s a style of gameplay known for its difficulty, and when KyaColosseum came on the scene in 2024, she quickly proved herself a master by becoming the first woman to beat the famously difficult ‘Pokémon: Run & Bun’ nuzlocke!
This unique skill — plus the witty personality that fills each of her streams — have cemented her as one of the premier Pokémon players today. And she’s used her fame for good, not only offering representation as an openly queer woman but participating in numerous charity streams and big-time championships raising awareness around marginalized issues today.
KyaColosseum has made making history a habit, and she doesn’t seem ready to give that up with her latest announcement: along with being a Pokémon Champion, Kya is also an out, extremely proud trans woman.
“I got handed a Pokémon game at four and had no idea what I was doing,” laughed Kya, when she sat down with Gayming Magazine to speak about her recent news. “It was a really comforting space for a neuro-divergent child growing up. Obviously there’s the colorful monsters, but as I got older. I learned that there was actually a load of depth below the surface…as I got older, and I’ve looked back on my experience with the series, it makes me realize just how tied [Pokémon is] to my own journey of discovering myself,”
It’s a growth that the streamer’s many fans got to witness; Kya speaks openly about beginning her Twitch channel while struggling mentally. It was this ability to focus on the game she loved while creating a community online that granted her the confidence so many viewers love today. It’s a confidence that brought her not only many fans, but some amazing opportunities — like being asked to coach the legendary gamer Valkyrae during the 2025 Nuzlocke Invitational!
“And she only went and won the whole thing, didn’t she!” Kya stressed, giddily remembering this monumental moment in her career. She spoke about how that opportunity is what set her on the path of streaming stardom she’s on today. But while she did all of this while being open about her sexual orientation, the streamer never felt that it was the right time to be open about her trans identity…until now.
“I think the reason I didn’t start streaming as an out trans woman is because, before streaming…I was not in a great place mentally. Streaming was the thing that I planned to use to get myself back on my feet.” Kya has been ‘out’ for years with her loved ones, but she cited the unfortunate treatment of trans creators online as one of the main reasons for not sharing that part of herself. But in recent years, as we’ve seen more and more discrimination online, Kya didn’t see this as a reason to keep an even firmer hold on this truth — in fact, she knew that it’s what made this the perfect time to finally share her identity with the world.
“I realized that by coming out now, it could possibly help even just one person be like, ‘Oh, okay — it’s okay if I’m open about who I am.’ It’s okay to, you know, be out and proud…because [Kya is.]”
KyaColosseum has only recently come out as a trans woman, but she stresses that she’s actually understood this part of herself for most of her life. And while there were many factors to realizing her trans identity, she couldn’t have truly understood it without the help of a very special game: Pokémon.
“I think, growing up, Pokémon asked quite a probing question for young queer youth: are you a boy or a girl. And I think that was something that I wrestled with for years,” Kyra continued, thinking back on those early moments when this franchise pushed her to consider her gender. “As I grew up I became more and more sure every time I loaded up a game, that this little avatar that I was seeing was who I was meant to be outside of the game — of course, I picked the girl!”
To this creator, it’s beautiful to see the game that once helped her become the tool she uses to bring representation to thousands of fans worldwide. “Often, because you don’t see people who look like you [in gaming], you have a natural inclination to say, ‘Well, that’s I can’t do that.’ I want to smash that,” Kya emphasized. “I want to smash that with a big fat hammer. [Because] I really do hope that if there is one thing that can be said about me when I close stream for the final time, it’s that my presence [online] has helped in even just the smallest of ways in making the space more friendly towards women, and towards queer people.”
It’s a heartwarming mission that she is already beginning to accomplish, not only with the many years she’s spent dominating Pokémon as an openly queer woman, but the waves of love she’s been receiving since opening up about her trans identity. It’s what makes KyaColosseum a Pokémon Champion like no other, one that uses her platform to spread authentic Pride to as many fans as possible — and all while claiming victory over every nuzlocke she can find, of course.
Rainbow Race
Kya is also keen to use her powers for good and is excited to reveal the details of a Pokémon Nuzlocke fundraiser for the Gayming Foundation taking place on June 17th called Rainbow Race.
Rainbow Race is a Pride Month Pokémon fundraiser benefiting the Gayming Foundation, hosted by Kya Colosseum and YouWorshipAngel.
On June 17 at 12 PM PT, 10 of the best Pokémon players and top creators, including Fuslie and pChal, will compete in a Nuzlocke race through Pokémon Platinum Kaizo, the latest major difficulty project in the Pokémon community.
Each player will represent a color of the rainbow as they race to prove who has the strongest Pokémon skills while raising money to support LGBTQ+ gamers and games industry workers.
Watch Rainbow Race live on June 17 at 12PM PT across all these participants’ Twitch channels.
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