Trans woman awaits ruling from Australian basketball league
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DENNIS PASSA
AP Sports Writer
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A transgender female player is awaiting a decision from Basketball Australia on whether she can compete in a second-tier division of the women’s national league, adding to the global debate over the issue in sport.
Lexi Rodgers revealed in a podcast that she is the trans woman applying to play in the NBL1 competition.
Rodgers said she made her identity public so people would see the “trans player” being referred to in mainstream and social media as a person, not an unknown entity.
Rodgers went on the “Under The Surface” podcast with former Women’s National Basketball League most valuable player Anneli Maley to speak about her experience since it was revealed about a week ago that there was a trans player competing in the women’s semi-professional basketball league.
“I am Lexi Rodgers, I’m not non-existent,” she said on the podcast. “Because when it’s this hypothetical person and people are making a picture of what a transgender athlete looks like in their head; one, I don’t think it’s me; and two, I think it’s a bit harsh, and people just forget that there’s actually a person.”
Rodgers said she was “still the same person” she was before she transitioned, “just in a different wrapping.”
Basketball Australia has set up a panel to discuss her application to play in the upcoming NBL1 South season for Melbourne suburban team the Kilsyth Cobras, starting next month. Local media reported the panel met Wednesday to discuss Rodgers’ case.
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