The transgender player who hopes to play in the NBL1 women’s competition has spoken out for the first time and revealed that she dreams of playing for Australia.
Lexi Rodgers has lifted the lid on her application to play for Victorian club Kilsyth and begged her critics to be kind.
Speaking on the Under the Surface podcast hosted by WNBL MVP Anneli Maley, Rodgers explained that her decision to speak out was motivated by a desire to raise awareness.
“It’s nice to have a little bit of a voice now, because when it’s this hypothetical person and people are painting a picture of what a transgender athlete looks like in their heads, 1: I don’t think I am, and, 2: I think it’s a bit harsh and people forget that There is someone already.
“If you don’t understand it and don’t know 1: don’t shout things online about it because it’s probably wrong, and 2: go learn about it.”
Lexie Rodgers has revealed that she is the trans player she hopes to play in the NBL1 women’s competition
Rodgers called for kindness and understanding from her critics
Andrew Bogut was a fierce opponent of allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, claiming that doing so would be harmful
Former NBA star Andrew Bogut has slammed the prospect of setting up the semi-professional women’s league NBL1 South, which includes teams from Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, allowing a biological male to play.
He warned that the NBL1 would threaten the “sanctity of female sport” if it allowed a biological male to compete.
But Rodgers urged her critics to remember the controversy affecting “actual people” and called for their understanding.
And she continued, “Please be nice.”
It’s been a tough week, so just try to remember that there were real people who were affected by these discussions and these discussions.
Rodgers revealed that she first felt womanizing before she was a teenager but repressed the feelings.
However, she said she made the decision to move on during Covid-19, when her mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness and the relationship broke down.
It was overwhelming.
“It was a quick step from: ‘Oh, I’m going to be a more feminine man’ to ‘I’m trans, there’s no doubt about that,'” she said.
Having given up basketball in her youth, Rodgers has revealed that she now dreams of playing at the highest level in the WNBL and with the Opals.
“It was great getting into women’s basketball, because unfortunately I didn’t know many of you before,” she told Mally.
“But now, I’m watching you (Mali) play, I’m watching people like Kayla (George) play, Moon Conte (…) This is where I want to get to, this is where I want to be.
Mali, along with WNBL stars Chloe Baby, Sarid Taylor and Marina Whittle felt the ire at Bogut when they were speaking up for them when supporting having a transgender female player compete in the league.
Her decision to speak comes on the same day that the Australian Basketball Commission met to decide the fate of her application.
While the decision would normally be left to Basketball Victoria, the national body intervened earlier this month and She called for the formation of a team of experts to judge what she described as a “complex and difficult issue”.
Under Surface host and WNBL star Anneli Maley has supported calls to allow transgender players to join all-female teams
WNBL star Chloe Baby criticized Bogut’s comments as transphobic
The panel includes Basketball Australia’s chief medical officer and Commonwealth Games medical advisor Dr Peter Harcourt, three-time Olympian and Basketball Australian board member Suzy Batkovic and Diana Robinson, professor of sport and exercise at the University of Notre Dame.
“While Basketball Victoria determines the eligibility of athletes who play in their competitions, for the benefit of the sport and all athletes, the BA Committee will now assess this application,” a BA spokesperson said in a statement.
Last week, World Athletics banned transgender women who have been exposed to male puberty from competing in its elite women’s competitions.
This came after the International Swimming Federation (FINA) last year banned transgender women who moved after the age of 12 from participating in women’s competitions.
(tags for translation) Daily Mail
