Posted on by Helen Boyd

Trans Guy Plays Ball

A trans man is playing on a women’s basketball team:

But Monday was anything but ordinary because it was the day the world would learn about the decision Allums had embarked on one year earlier: to come out as a transgender man playing on a women’s basketball team.


He noted that he was biologically identical to any other female, but said, “I just would prefer for people to call me a he.”

“I decided to do it because I was uncomfortable not being able to be myself,” Allums, 21, said in a telephone interview Monday, hours after an article about his experience was published on the Web site Outsports.com. “Just having to hear the words ‘she’ and ‘her,’ it was really starting to bother me.”

NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) has a piece about the Trans Student Athlete Guide, as does the NCAA (National College Athletic Association).

The Guide itself can be found in .pdf format on the NCLR’s site.

For those of you who know anything about sports, and/or are trans yourselves, I’d love to hear your take on this report.

3 Replies to “Trans Guy Plays Ball”

  1. Caveat: not a sports fan.

    From a sportsy point of view, I’m fine with it. He hasn’t transitioned hormonally, so no unfair advantages.

    From a cultural “Why must we muddy the water?” point of view, well, it will result in some confusion. But trans folks already do that just by drawing breath, so meh.

    More power to ‘im.

    Grace

  2. I’m both transgendered & a fairly big hoops fan. George Washington generally has a pretty good basketball team…recruiting from D.C. , Baltimore & metro Virginia. If I’m not mistaken, they made it to the NCAA Tournament last year (or was it 2009?).

    I just hope this isn’t a “circus stunt.” It’s extremely rare for anyone under 6’0″ (man, or trans) to play Division I basketball. In the men’s game you also need a lot of muscle to “take it to the hoop, or crash the boards.” Having been on HRT for about six months, I know all too well what estrogen does to muscle mass. So, given the fact that this transman lacks both height & mass, I very much doubt he’ll see much playing time. Plus, it doesn’t sound like he was all that dominant playing the women’s game…which is altogether different than the men’s game (finess, rather than muscle).

    So, in short, I’m happy that he’s getting the opportunity to be on the GWU team. I doubt, however, this is much more than a “meet the freak” opportunity for hoops fans. It’s a matter of physics, not attitude…

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