Before her transition in 2015, Hanna Mouncey represented the Australian football team as Callum Mouncey.
After transitioning, Hanna was blocked in the Australian Football League for her "strength, stamina, and physique." Hanna then joined the team in the Australian National Handball, where she helped her team get to the World Championship only to be blocked again.
Though some may consider Hannah Mouncey's story to be of a struggling heroism. Others consider the 6'2 220-pound transgender to be out of place.
Hannah Mouncey wrote an op-ed in StarObserver saying:
I can confirm that yes, I was left out of the team for the World Championships because there was a group of players within the team, supported by the team manager, who did not want me showering or using the change rooms before or after the game. This was in turn the sole reason given to me by our coach for my non selection.
In this same conversation, it was clear that our coach knew what she was doing would not be received well. Despite the fact that prior to selection I passed every fitness test given to me with relative ease, she assured me that she would tell people that I wasn’t fit to play rather than the actual reason just given. She even acknowledged in that conversation how well I’d done in my rehab to warrant selection if the change room issue hadn’t been a factor.
Hannah was told that she wasn't liked. "I later had it confirmed by someone else within Handball Australia who had done some digging that: 'From everything I’ve been told, you’ve basically not been picked because you’re not liked.' And the reason I’m not liked is because I told our manager, and by extension those players, exactly where he and they could go in trying to tell me where I could change and shower."
At the moment, the International Olympic Committee allows trans athletes to compete as long as their testosterone levels stay at or below 5 nmol/L for 24 months. Hannah did not go through the blood test last year, though it is unclear why. One study by a Swedish university says that trans women can keep their testosterone levels for up to 24 months.
So what is to be done about this #Gayes? Is it kay for people like Hannah to be kept out of sports for the sake of cis women (someone who identifies as a woman and was assigned female at birth is a cisgender woman)? Should transgenders have their own team? Does equality mean gender doesn't matter and we should have a free for all? Comment a solution below and remember to play nice.