The relationship between queerness and sport has always been important to me. I used to be a swimmer, arguably the sport where trans inclusion is debated most fiercely. I wasn’t out as trans in sports until my freshman year in high school, but everyone knew I wasn’t the ‘normal’ athlete. I was often ostracized by my peers; they were uncomfortable changing around me because they believed I was a lesbian who were going to prey on them. This got even worse when I came out as transgender. Honestly, I understood part of their discomfort, if I were a woman, I wouldn’t want to change next to someone who identified as a man, cis or trans. Since I’m from Wyoming obviously, I wasn’t allowed to be in the male’s changing room (not that I really wanted that anyway due to the harassment I already received from them) and I wasn’t allowed to be in male events. That last season I swam was probably one of the darkest periods of my life. I had lost a community because of my identity. No one would talk to me I was excluded from the group. Bus rides to and from events were a nightmare I would watch all these people I grew up playing games and sharing dinner while I would sit in the back by myself. We don’t hear a lot of stories of trans man athletes and kind of forget we’re part of the conversation as well. I believe that if I wasn’t so alienated I would have continued participating in a sport I loved.
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