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Kye Allums, The First Trans Man to Play NCAA Division I Basketball

When college basketbal player Kye Allums (nee Kay-Kay) hits the court Nov. 13 for George Washington University’s season opener, it’ll be the first time an openly trans Division I player plays ball. The junior, a Minnesota native who grew up resisting his mother’s best efforts to dress him in feminine clothes, began coming out to teammates as trans during his sophomore year, and eventually managed to have that conversation in June with head coach Mike Bozeman, who told his he would always have his back.

And while the NCAA figures out its transgender athlete policies, Allums is still playing on the women’s team, as he has not undergone hormone treatments. Though here’s a thought exercise for you: Bozeman’s tenure at George Washington is dependent on the women’s basketball scholarship he received; he does not have a scholarship offer from the men’s team. So were he to be barred from playing on the women’s team, he could theoretically lose his scholarship. But Washington D.C. has a city ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity. So that would make things interesting. [Outsports; NYT]

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