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The participation of transgender people in ice hockey is an ongoing issue in the place of LGBT+ rights and diversity in ice hockey. Only a small handful of professional players have come out as openly trans, and systemic transphobia presents many barriers to the inclusion of trans people in the sport. [1]
In 2003, USA Hockey banned a transgender woman from participating in the Women's National Ice Hockey Tournament. [2]
In January 2013, the NHL's Vancouver Canucks welcomed transgender teenager and Britannia Secondary School goaltender Cory Oskam onto the ice to stand next to Cory Schneider during the pre-game national anthem. [3] [4]
In 2013, Jesse Thompson, a junior hockey player in Ontario, made a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario concerning harassment and bullying over his being trans. [5] [6] In 2017, the Ontario Hockey Federation made transgender training mandatory for all minor hockey coaches as a result of the tribunal. [7]
In 2014, the Whitehorse Women's Hockey League announced a policy allowing anyone who identifies as a woman or was assigned female at birth to participate in the league without restriction. [8]
In October 2016, NWHL Buffalo Beauts player Harrison Browne became the first professional hockey player to publicly come out as transgender during their career. [9] He postponed his medical transition until his retirement from the league in 2018. [10]
In January 2018, CWHL Toronto Furies player Jessica Platt publicly came out as transgender, the first professional female hockey player to come out as a transgender woman. [11] [12] Ella Licari, who played in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League from 2016 to 2019, also came out as transgender that year. [13]
In April 2018, Leksands IF Dam goaltender Leon Reuterström publicly came out as a transgender man, and had to retire due to his testosterone therapy contravening SDHL anti-doping rules. [14] [15]
In the autumn of 2018, Fabienne Peter became the first openly transgender player to play in the Switzerland women's ice hockey league. [16]
In April 2019, the San José Sharks honoured 15-year old Elliot Govaars of the San José Junior Sharks in a pre-game ceremony on Trans Day of Visibility. [17] [18]
In January 2020, the British EIHL held its first ever Pride Weekend. [19]
The 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation Transgender Policy came into effect on 1 June 2020. The policy bars transgender men from playing in women's competitions after beginning any form of hormone treatment, and specifies that transgender women wishing to compete in women's competitions must demonstrate that their serum testosterone concentration has been less than 5nmol/L1 continuously for a period of at least 12 months and continuously throughout their playing time. The policy does not require legal gender identity recognition or surgical changes. [20] [21]
Ice Hockey UK maintains a policy on transgender inclusion stating that clubs must "be conscious of the wide variety within the trans community, and be alert to the flexible approach needed so that they may be welcomed and included without discrimination, not only as players, but also as managers, coaches, staff members, and in the social life of the Club." [22]
In January 2019, USA Hockey announced a new set of guidelines on transgender athlete eligibility. [23] [24] The policies included notice that many ice hockey programmes were not limited by gender, such as mixed leagues and children's leagues. The guidelines for eligibility for trans players in restricted leagues stated that transgender women aged 14 and up must have undergone at least a year of testosterone suppression therapy and that transgender men should not have begun testosterone hormone therapy. The policy also explicitly contained guidelines for non-binary players. The policy generally received positive feedback from players. [25] [26]
The now-defunct National Women's Hockey League policy on trans eligibility banned players assigned female at birth from playing while undergoing testosterone hormone therapy and specifies that players assigned male at birth must be able to demonstrate that their serum total testosterone level "is within typical limits of women athletes," and that the league may monitor hormone levels via testing. [27] The policy was announced in December 2016, the first professional sports league to announce specific guidelines for trans eligibility, and was developed in collaboration with You Can Play and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. [28] [29]
In 2019, Team Trans was founded in Massachusetts, in the United States, as an all-transgender and nonbinary hockey team. [30] It is believed to be the only all-transgender sports team currently active in the United States. [31] [32]
You Can Play is a social activism campaign dedicated to the eradication of homophobia and the inclusion of LGBT+ people in sports. It was founded after the death of openly-gay Miami University player Brendan Burke. [33]
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity or alleviates gender dysphoria.
Sex verification in sports occurs because eligibility of athletes to compete is restricted whenever sporting events are limited to a single sex, which is generally the case, as well as when events are limited to mixed-sex teams of defined composition. Practice has varied tremendously over time, across borders and by competitive level. Issues have arisen multiple times in the Olympic games and other high-profile sporting competitions, for example allegations that certain male athletes attempted to compete as women or that certain female athletes had intersex conditions perceived to give unfair advantage. The topic of sex verification is related to the more recent question of how to treat transgender people in sports. Sex verification is not typically conducted on athletes competing in the male category because there is generally no perceived competitive advantage for a female or intersex athlete to compete in male categories.
NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their student-athletes.
The Canadian Women's Hockey League was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and internationally in the United States (2010) and China (2017) throughout its tenure. The league discontinued operations on May 1, 2019, after 12 seasons.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-heterosexual or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) community is prevalent within sports across the world.
Alexandra "Alex" Carpenter is an American professional ice hockey player, alternate captain of PWHL New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), and member of the United States women's national team. She was the first player drafted into the National Women's Hockey League in 2015. She won a silver medal with the United States at the 2014, and 2022 Winter Olympics, won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2015, and was named ZhHL MVP in 2020.
Chris Mosier is an American advocate for transgender rights and competitive triathlete, duathlete, and racewalker. He started his athletic career before transitioning, started his transition in 2010, and in 2015 earned a spot on the Team USA sprint duathlon men's team for the 2016 World Championship, making him the first known out trans athlete to join a U.S. national team different from his sex at birth.
Hannah Mouncey is an Australian national squad handball player who also plays Australian rules football. Mouncey represented Australia in men's handball before transitioning. She has been the subject of controversy over her eligibility to participate in women's competitions. Mouncey debuted with the Australia women's national handball team at the 2018 Asian Women's Handball Championship and competed again at the 2022 Asian Women’s Championships held in Incheon and Seoul, South Korea.
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), comprising four league-owned teams. Over time, some teams gained independent ownership and the number of teams grew to seven; teams during the league's final season in 2022–23 included the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, Montreal Force, and Toronto Six. The Isobel Cup was awarded annually to the league playoff champion.
The participation of transgender people in competitive sports, a traditionally sex-segregated institution, is a controversial issue, particularly the inclusion of transgender women and girls in women's sports.
The Buffalo Beauts were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, at the Northtown Center.
Harrison Browne is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played for the Metropolitan Riveters and Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL).
Madison Packer is an American professional ice hockey forward for New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Jessica Platt is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player with the PWHPA and an advocate for transgender rights. She played for the Toronto Furies in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and was the first transgender woman to play in the now defunct CWHL.
CeCé Telfer is a Jamaican-born athlete who, in 2019, became the first openly transgender person to win an NCAA title. While a student athlete at Franklin Pierce University, Telfer first competed without success in the men's division from 2016 to 2017 but after coming out and beginning transition, Telfer was allowed to compete in the women's division. Telfer eventually took first place in the 400-meter hurdles event in June 2019.
Team Trans is an all-transgender and non-binary hockey team organization. Founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2019, it is believed to be the first all-transgender ice hockey team in the United States. A Twin Cities regional chapter was later founded in 2021.
Rebecca Morse is an American ice hockey defender, currently playing for the Connecticut Whale of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
Leon Reuterström is a Swedish former ice hockey goaltender and advocate for transgender inclusion in sports. From 2012 to 2018, he played for Leksands IF Dam in the Swedish Women's Hockey League, the top flight of Swedish women's hockey, before coming out to the public as a transgender man and retiring to pursue his medical transition.
Lia Catherine Thomas is an American swimmer. She is the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, having won the women's 500-yard freestyle event in 2022. During her swimming career, Thomas has been part of the public debate about transgender women in women's sports.
Verity Smith is a rugby player and LGBT+ rights activist based in the United Kingdom. He has served as diversity and inclusion lead for International Gay Rugby, and previously played rugby union for Rotherham Phoenix and rugby league for Dewsbury Moor.
