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Transgender athletes still have hurdles to equality Pontarelli, Desiree . University Wire ; Carlsbad [Carlsbad]03 Sep 2013.

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ABSTRACT  

According to Christina Kahrl, Secretary of the Equality Illinois Board of Directors and member of the Baseball

Writers Association of America, administrative sports bodies too often create policies reacting to transgender

athletes as opposed to establishing guidelines anticipating their existence.

FULL TEXT  

Publication: The Columbia Chronicle, Columbia College, Chicago IL .

Kye Allums, the first openly transgender athlete to play NCAA Division I basketball, was a man playing on the

women's team at George Washington University. At least that's how he saw itTwo years into being the team's

starting shooting guard, Allumsdecided to tell his teammates that he identified as male.

Donald Wu THE CHRONICLE

He said he first came out to his best friend on the team in 2010, explaining that while he was born physically

female, he felt male. He later came out to teammates, coaches and family.

"Everyone supported me and accepted my pronouns and my name," Allums said. "It wasn't as difficult or as hard as

I thought it was going to be, but it was scary initially before I did it."

While Allums' family, friends and teammates were all supportive; the NCAA didn't allow him to play on the men's

team.NCAA policy states that athletes who undergo hormone treatment involving testosterone will not be allowed

to compete against women's teams in gender-specific sports at NCAA Championships. However, if a male is

transitioning to become a female, the athlete will have to provide documentation showing evidence of testosterone

suppression treatment for one year. To remain eligible for a women's team in post-season play, the athlete must

continue to documenthormonal treatment.

The NCAA states that the association distinguishes testosterone as a banned substance and provides a medical

exception review for demonstrated necessity of a contraband medication.

African Journals Online states that studies on transgender athletes point out unfair discrimination against

transgender individuals as a result of inappropriate application of testing results.

"It's difficult to play in sports when everyone around you doesn't believe that you are a real athlete and that you're

cheating," Allums said. "If we were, there wouldn't be policies set in place for trans athletes to compete."

Allums never sought to undergo gender reassignment surgery, but even if he wanted to go through surgery, he

could not until after his college basketball season was complete, due to the NCAA standards.

Allums ultimately decided to leave GWU in 2011 after suffering a collective nine concussions and graduating early.

"I stopped playing basketball because I got nine concussions," Allums said. "I didn't want to get a tenth one, and

wanted to remember the rest of my life; I thought it was a good choice."

Allums said other sports organizations, such as the Maine Principals' Association, are beginning to adopt the

NCAA policies due to more transgender athletes becoming visible, so necessary steps are in place for if and when

a transgender athlete comes out.

Since then, he has established his own LGBT awareness project "I Am Enough" to help people better understand

the science behind the physical transitioning from one gender to another.

According to Christina Kahrl, Secretary of the Equality Illinois Board of Directors and member of the Baseball

Writers Association of America, administrative sports bodies too often create policies reacting to transgender

athletes as opposed to establishing guidelines anticipating their existence.

"Your identity as a trans person is not dependent on the medicines you receive, it is dependent on your sense of

self," Kahrl said. "It's not about being trans, it's about something that everybody likes--if you like to play basketball

whether or not the person is gay straight, trans--it doesn't really matter."

Instead, school districts and sports administrations could reach an agreement and implement fair transgender

policies nationwide.

"There was certainly a lot of concern, a lot of questions and a lot of confusion initially when I came out [as

transgender] in 2003," Kahrl said. "Trans people are just like anyone else--as long as you're extremely confident in

your work, then you're going to be given an opportunity to work."

Kahrl was inducted into the Gay &Lesbian Hall of Fame on Aug. 2 for her efforts and her position as an ESPN

sportswriter.

"After I came out, I was just focused on my transition for the first couple of years and making sure that went well in

the context of my career, my relationships with my family, my colleagues and co-workers, and friends -- that was

first and foremost," Kahrl said. "Slowly, I got more and more active and started doing some volunteer work and

when I came to Chicago I became much more active. The trans community needed people to get active-- there

wasn't a lot of effective readership, and there wasn't a lot of communication from the trans community."

In 2010, she was a part of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award-nominated segment

"Transitions" on HBO's Real Sports, a monthly newsmagazine, in which she spoke about coming out as a

transgender sportswriter.

"Sports are a great way to not only get away from all the pain that's shoveled around on LGBT people," Allums said.

"It's also a great way to really focus on winning a game and accomplishing a goal with your other teammates or by

yourself that has nothing to do with your sexual orientation or gender identity."

Allums encourages all LGBT athletes considering coming out to commit to it. He said the more people that come

out, the more it will encourage conversation on the topic.

"We've had this wave of LGBT athletes coming out; it's a domino affect," Allums said. "The more athletes that come

out, the more attention we're going to pay to it. If no one comes out, people are going to think that we don't need to

address it or talk about it."

Credit: Desiree Pontarelli

DETAILS

Subject: Athletes; College sports; Gays &lesbians; Gender; Women; Testosterone; Concussion

Company / organization: Name: National Collegiate Athletic Association--NCAA; NAICS: 813990

Publication title: University Wire; Carlsbad

Publication year: 2013

Publication date: Sep 3, 2013

Section: Sports-And-Health

Publisher: Uloop, Inc.

Place of publication: Carlsbad

Country of publication: United States, Carlsbad

Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--United States

Source type: Wire Feeds

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 1766295312

Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1766295312?accountid=8289

Copyright: © 2016 UWIRE, a division of Uloop

Last updated: 2017-11-22

Database: ProQuest Central

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