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I Quit College Basketball to Transition. This Is What the Debate About Trans Athletes Misses.

In order to make progress on gender equity in sports, we must expand our understanding of trans people.

Orlando Pride supporters stand in front of a banner about protecting trans kids during a game on March 14, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.

I was 17 when I received a news alert on my phone: Donald Trump had announced that he was running for president. That was in 2015, and I was graduating high school. I remember thinking to myself, “Surely, Trump will never be a viable candidate.”

When Trump was inaugurated in 2017, I was a sophomore playing on the basketball team at my women’s college while navigating the realization that I was a transgender man. At first, I was grateful to play at the Division III level, and I put off medically transitioning to keep playing. Burned out and mentally unwell after my junior season, I weighed the options of completing a four-year career or putting myself on testosterone and eliminating my eligibility.

My school was small and low-profile enough that no one outside of my teammates and coaches knew I was trans, so I wasn’t making headlines like Lia Thomas. With the latest Supreme Court ruling upholding states’ rights to ban trans athletes from women and girls’ sports, I can’t help but wonder what that would have meant for me if I were still wearing number 15.

How would the ruling apply to me if I weren’t a trans woman or assigned male at birth? Did it matter less as I didn’t play an individual-focused sport like track or swimming? The Supreme Court ruling bans trans athletes from girls and women’s sports, and I was transgender, but not the kind they care more about limiting participation.

I don’t write these words........

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