The first openly transgender athlete to compete for a men’s U.S. national team says his public transition on the competitive stage was aided by teammates and opponents alike who recognized his ability above all else.
Although triathlon and duathlon are individual sports, said Chris Mosier, athletes are still part of a larger team that trains together and races for the same flag.
“I do have a team,” he told the hosts of the Starting Lineup on Sportsnet 650. “I had that buy-in from my teammates and my fellow competitors that I was a good athlete first and they loved and appreciated me as an athlete. When I told them I was transgender, they said fine and they loved me as a person.”
Mosier, who posed for ESPN Magazine’s Body Issue in 2016, said his public move to compete against men was relatively easy. The hardest part had already past.
“Living life as male but competing as female, that was my tough time,” he said, noting many must stand up against painful discrimination and trans women face especially difficult barriers because of binary gender expectations.
“I inherited a lot of male privilege when I transitioned in sport. People are not afraid of a trans man, someone who is designated female at birth transitioning to compete with men,” he said. “And no one one through I would be successful as a male athlete and when I was successful, I kind of got a pat on the butt and a ‘good job’ and that was it. Whereas we know transgender women in sport face much more discrimination, harassments and harder policies trying to prohibit their inclusion in sport.”
Mosier’s advocacy efforts directly influenced changed at the International Olympic Committee and he encourages amateur and professional sports organizations at all levels to examine their policies.
“Sport is a vehicle for social change,” he said. “The very way that sport is set up is that teams are families and that diversity can strengthen a team. We don’t just want all players to be able to dribble the ball but no players be able to shoot. We all bring our different aspects to a team.”