Transgender Man Is on Women's Team
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: November 1, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/sports/ncaabasketball/02gender.html?_r=1

Monday was a lazy day for Kye Allums, a typically busy junior playing Division I basketball at George Washington University. Without any classes or practice on his schedule, Allums woke up late, stopped in at a team meeting, worked on a class project, then took an afternoon nap.

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.

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Transgender man comes out on GWU women's basketball team
November 1, 2010 - 04:30 PM

By Amanda Hess

http://www.tbd.com/blogs/amanda-hess/2010/11/transgender-man-comes-out-on-gwu-women-s-basketball-team--4019.html

This season, the George Washington University women's basketball team will welcome a man on the court. On Nov. 13, Junior guard Kye Allums, formerly Kay-Kay, could become the first publicly transgender person to play Division 1 NCAA basketball.

Allums joined the women's team in 2008 as a freshman; he came out as as man to his teammates during his sophomore year. Last summer, Allums disclosed his gender identity to the team's head coach, Mike Bozeman, and arranged to officially come out on the team this season.

Wow, what an awesome story! I don't know if I could sacrifice HRT to play on a team. Wonder why he doesn't just play on the mens team?

if i read it right this is a woman who likes to pretend to be a man when it suits her.   so whats the big deal?  just the male name?   She is a woman ball player.

He play on the woman team because that's what his scholarship is for. If he's offered a scholarship to play on the men's team, I'm sure he would do so. He identify as male, live as male and is planning surgery. He is merely delaying HRT due to his practical situation.

Quote from: lilacwoman on November 02, 2010, 03:18:56 PM
if i read it right this is a woman who likes to pretend to be a man when it suits her.   so whats the big deal?  just the male name?   She is a woman ball player.

um, what?

Quote from: lilacwoman on November 02, 2010, 03:18:56 PM
if i read it right this is a woman who likes to pretend to be a man when it suits her.   so whats the big deal?  just the male name?   She is a woman ball player.

1) You did not read this right.  It is about a man born with a woman's body who is transitioning while publicly playing sports.  He was selected for the team when others thought he was a woman.  He has worked to gain the support of his teammates and his coach and is braving the slings and arrows of the public who may pretend he is really a woman.  For a member of this site to deny his identity and demean him is reprehensible.

2) Denigrating the struggles and identity of transgender people is against the TOS of this site.


- Kate

From OutSports.com:

Transgender man Kye Allums playing NCAA women's basketball

Kye Allums, the NCAA's first Div. 1 publicly transgender basketball player, is starting conversations never before held in the sport.

Not many people noticed a slight change on the George Washington University website earlier this year. It concerned a player on the school's women's basketball team named Kay-Kay Allums. Just a couple letters were taken away, a Y was moved and an E was added to form the player's new name: Kye Allums. To most people it was meaningless, but to Allums the change was the most significant of his lifetime.

This is a great story and I'm glad it's getting so much publicity. The only thing that really irks me is the comments from a lot of people on the stories...why can't they just be happy for the guy and let him play basketball? Just shows how far people need to come to be accepting. There are a lot of great, supportive comments though!