The pool was safety to transgender swimmer Schuyler Bailar. He wants it that way for others
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/the-pool-was-safety-to-transgender-swimmer-schuyler-bailar-he-wants-it-that-way-for-others/ar-BB1kKcTG?ocid=windirect&cvid=2c55a0eb21ba4775a33b47fe0a09d9e8&ei=22
Story by Mike Freeman (29 March 2024)
For Schuyler Bailar, the pool represented something more than fun. It was a place of safety and comfort. It was where Bailar could be himself.
"I was often bullied for not being gender-conforming," Bailar said in an interview with USA TODAY. "In high school I decided I was sick of being bullied."
How impressive has Bailar's journey been? In 2015, while swimming for Harvard, he became the first transgender athlete to compete on an NCAA Division 1 men's team. He's also become one of the most vocal and powerful athletes fighting for the rights of the trans community. Bailar's efforts became so nationally recognized that in 2016 he was profiled on 60 Minutes.
Since then, his efforts to bring awareness, and fight discrimination, have only become more pronounced. Bailar's book, He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters, was published by Hachette in October of 2023. Bailar says the book helps bring common sense to the ongoing conversation about the trans community.
"Everybody is debating trans rights," Bailar said, "and where trans people belong, and if we belong, and yet most Americans claim they've never met a trans person. Most can't accurately define the word 'transgender...'"
Bailar is trying to change all of that. It's his mission.