Kye Allums is the first transgendered basketball player in NCAA history. He was born a female in Hugo, Minnesota, with the name of Kay-Kay Allums. He still has all the female body parts and is currently playing basketball on George Washington University women’s basketball team. He never felt right when he was a younger girl. His mother would force him to wear dresses and act like all the rest of the girls at school, but he would go behind her back and wear sweats and sweatshirts to school. When he began college he was a female but did not feel as if he belonged a female. At first he attempted to call himself a lesbian but soon did not feel like he fit in with the lesbian crowd. It wasn’t until his mother asked him “Who do you think you are, young lady,” that he realized he was not a lady. Since that point he has corrected everybody who calls him a girl and made it clear to all his teammates and coaches that he was in fact a boy. The team has to deal with potential problems for the upcoming season, including locker room and restroom restrictions. Kye is eligible to play on the women’s basketball team as long as he does not receive any type of hormonal treatment. The NCAA regulations state that “schools are advised to consider the gender classification of student-athletes’ state identification documents, such as driver licenses and voter registration, to determine appropriate participation.” At the end of the 2010-2011 basketball season Kye Allums plans to have sex-reassignment surgery and still play on the women’s basketball team in 2011-2012. His last game in collegiate athletics is in April 2012, after the game he plans to begin hormonal treatment to complete his gender transformation.
Ricky Malott
KIN 332I
Afternote... while researching this topic, I came across the website www.outsports.com. It is a website for gay sports fans and athletes to share stories, discussion, and photos. Very relevant to socio-cultural topics, Check it out.
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