Transgender man signs with Minnesota Aurora women’s team

It was not until college, he said, that he began to see himself reflected in others and to more fully understand his gender identity. Even then, the process was uneven. “I wasn’t truly living who I was inside,” Ranson said.

The signing arrives at a moment when transgender participation in sports has become a political flashpoint. Across the country, Republican-led states have advanced laws requiring student-athletes to compete on teams that align with their sex assigned at birth, part of a broader push that has largely targeted transgender women and girls.

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Coming out within a team environment brought its own pressures. Ranson described being misgendered and deadnamed during practices and games, an experience that left him emotionally drained. “Every misgender felt like a stab to the heart,” he said. But after coming out to teammates, he said he received support from coaches and players, who worked to create a more inclusive environment.

That support, he said, proved transformative. “If the people around me can accept me and love me, then I can finally accept myself,” Ranson said in an earlier interview.

“I definitely feel safe to be myself in women’s sports,” Ranson told the Star Tribune. “Although I don’t identify as a woman, I still feel included. I’m proud to be part of women’s soccer because of how supportive and how much of a community it is.”

This article originally appeared on Advocate: Transgender man signs with Minnesota Aurora women’s team

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