Sports

An athlete and an ally

Hudson Taylor continues his LGBT advocacy on and off the mats

Published

15 years ago

December 1, 2011

Hudson Taylor and his wife were wed in D.C., because they wanted to get married in a place where their gay friends enjoy the same opportunity. (Blade photo by Pete Exis)

When you listen to Hudson Taylor speak, you hear words like “diversity,” “respect,” “inclusion” and “safe space.” Those may be common words for LGBT rights advocates, but Taylor is anything but common. He is a recently married 24-year-old straight man who spent most of his life going to the mats to hone his skills in the sport of wrestling. Now, he is going to the mat for us, the LGBT community.

We have been lucky in the past year to see a growing list of straight sports allies speaking out against bullying and discrimination in sports. Ben Cohen, Charles Barkley, Brian Burke and Paul Tagliabue are just a few to grab national headlines recently.

With all the attention that Taylor has been generating lately, I found myself curious as to why one person was making such a difference. Hudson and his wife Lia were at the Team DC Champions Awards/College Scholarship reception in October at the HRC Building, with Taylor being the keynote speaker. After several hours of mingling with the guests and award recipients, the duo had managed to charm the socks off of everyone in attendance. Both are sincere and charismatic.

Taylor’s journey to LGBT advocacy began at the University of Maryland where he was a theater major and a three-time All-American in wrestling. Over the course of his collegiate career, he noticed the difference between the welcoming atmospheres of the theater community and the homophobic environment of the locker room.

After HRC came to the campus looking for supporters and volunteers, Taylor began wearing an HRC sticker on his wrestling headgear that made national headlines. Outsports wrote an article about him in February 2010 and Taylor subsequently received more than 2,000 emails from supporters and young, closeted teens.

When asked about the responsibility that comes with having troubled teens asking for direction, Taylor responds, “It is a difficult responsibility and I am not a trained professional. I am, however, a good listener and capable of pointing people to a safe space.”

With all the attention that he was generating, Taylor decided to put law school on hold and create his own non-profit organization, Athlete Ally. The organization encourages people to make a pledge to respect and welcome all types of athletes. In the future the organization hopes to become a resource to connect young people with others like them.

Taylor and Lia have finished up their schooling at the University of Maryland and George Washington University respectively, and are currently living in New York City where Taylor is an assistant wrestling coach at Columbia University and Lia is practicing law.

Taylor continues to speak nationally about diversity, inclusion and respect to high schools, colleges and corporations such as Nike and Walmart. Lia said, “The reception has been huge with some of the venues holding up to 3,000 people.”

Taylor was recently named to the advisory board of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) new sports initiative, “Changing the Game.” The mission of the initiative is to assist K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all. “We will be creating programs to educate coaches, administrators, parents, students and fans,” Hudson said.

Why do we need groups like Athlete Ally and GLSEN? There are hundreds, probably thousands, of LGBT teenagers in America who are not playing sports because they fear the repercussions of joining a community that is historically unwelcoming. Try to imagine what would happen if the sports community was as welcoming as say, the theater community.

In the middle of all the changes going on in their lives, Taylor and Lia were married in Washington, D.C., in September of 2011. When I asked why they were married in D.C. (they are from New Jersey and New York respectively), the response was incredibly touching.

“When we first started planning the wedding, the Marriage Equality Act in New York had not yet passed,” Taylor said. “We wanted to stay true to our values as many of our friends were unable to get married in New York.”

In the coming months, Taylor will also make a run at the 2012 Olympic wrestling team. “I have been wrestling since I was 5 years old and I still love to compete,” he said. “I will participate in a few upcoming tournaments to see if a run at the 2012 Olympics is plausible.”

Based on what he has accomplished in his life so far, I wouldn’t bet against him. Hudson Taylor, you rock. You can make the pledge and/or donate to this worthy cause at athleteally.org.

Sports

2 former NBA players launch cheap anti-trans stunt to exploit WNBA rules

Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are attempting to extend their finished sports careers through vague gender eligibility policy in the WNBA.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 11, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

The future of transgender participation on the basketball court could change following changes to the league's gender based eligibility policy. (Photo by yobro/Bigstock)

As transgender sports policy continues to make headlines, two former NBA players are attempting to use vague WNBA wording on players’ gender identity to extend their finished professional sports careers.

Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, two male former professional basketball players who have aligned themselves with the ‘far-right’ political spectrum, have announced that they plan to self-identify as transgender in order to meet the requirements to declare themselves eligible for the WNBA draft.

Freedom last played for the NBA in 2022, while White played his last professional game in 2018.

Both players have explicitly stated that this choice is an attempt to exploit the policy currently in place in the WNBA — one that assumes those who say they identify as transgender women are women — unlike what these two have done.

The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but it does not include more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth, according to The Athletic, The New York Times’s sports publication.

Neither Freedom nor White has previously made any statements about being trans.

“If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA,” Freedom wrote on X. “Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in April 2027.”

Hours later, White made a similar statement to Fox News, emphasizing that this was solely an attempt to exploit the policy — an attempt at inclusion — and use it as a loophole to stay relevant in the sport he left in 2018.

“I’m transgender. I’m a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I’ll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well,“ White told Fox News. “I think I’d be unstoppable. But I’m a team-first guy. I’m a pass-first kind of player. I do the little things. I led my team in all five major stat categories at Iowa State University, so I do a little bit of everything. I’ll do whatever the coach needs me to do. I’ll do whatever the girls need me to do.”

White also said that he would be open to suing the WNBA if he were not allowed to be a part of the draft, while making transphobic comments about genitalia in the same breath.

“I think the WNBA could come out and make a definitive statement about guys with a pair of balls playing in the Women’s Association,“ White said, saying he doesn’t “want to be discriminated against.”

“I want fair treatment,” White continued while also using the opportunity to promote his run for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. “I’m a young Black, hopefully United States Senator that would like a fair chance to participate as a sometimes-identifying-as-a-transgender-woman athlete.”

“We’re gonna have to have a huge legal battle about discrimination if I can’t play,” he added.

White has made multiple failed attempts to run for office as a Republican since leaving the NBA, with statements surrounding conspiracy theories and his support for Trump coming under fire.

He has faced court actions after falling behind on court-mandated child support payments and has faced family repercussions for his political activities.

White’s grandfather has distanced himself from White, stating: “There’s no way I can support my grandson supporting the GOP, and in essence, Trump.”

In response to Freedom’s X post and White’s announcement, the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association, the players’ union for the WNBA, released a statement doubling down on its commitment to inclusivity in the sport.

“We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women’s sports while creating transformational change,” the statement said in a post on Instagram.

“Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations,” the post continued. “But we will not be used as political pawns.”

The statement comes just days after WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a memo to teams attempting to address ongoing discussions around transgender athletes in women’s basketball.

“I know many of you have received questions in recent weeks regarding transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball, and I expect this topic will continue to receive significant attention,” Engelbert wrote in the memo, which was sent Friday afternoon and published in the Associated Press. “I wanted to reach out to share how we are approaching these conversations at the league office and to thank those of you who have responded to questions from the media with thoughtfulness and professionalism.”

“We recognize that this is a complex and nuanced topic, and we will continue to have important conversations with all of you and the Players Association in the weeks and months ahead,” Engelbert said. “We also plan to convene additional discussions and offer listening sessions for any team leaders who would like to participate. Your perspectives and feedback are invaluable, and I appreciate those who have already reached out to share their thoughts.”

The memo, which does not clarify whether the league’s stance on gender eligibility will change or what the ongoing conversations have looked like, comes as political figures — particularly those on the right — continue to fuel debates over transgender participation in women’s sports across the country and across sports.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also commented on the ongoing eligibility meetings the WNBA is holding, using the issue to criticize transgender participation in women’s sports.

“WNBA meeting to decide whether 2+2=4 or 2+2=5,” Desantis wrote on X on Saturday.

Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports. Cunningham’s comments sparked small rallies and protests in Seattle and Portland when the Fever were on the road last week.

Despite the loudest voices — and those being covered by non-LGBTQ outlets — highlighting negative takes on transgender inclusion on female sports teams, multiple WNBA members have voiced their support for transgender women participating in sports.

Seattle Storm center Stefanie Dolson and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve have used their platforms to continue their vocal support for transgender women participating in sports.

“We need to protect trans kids,” Reeve said on Aug. 1. “To me, it’s a human rights issue. Every kid has a right to sports.”

A source familiar with the league told the Blade that the WNBA is not taking Freedom and White’s announcements seriously and is not entertaining what the source characterized as bad-faith efforts to demonize the transgender community. The source emphasized that there are no serious or immediate eligibility issues involving the two men and said their attempts to enter women’s sports do not represent an effort to protect women’s sports.

“The WNBA will not allow bad-faith publicity stunts designed to mock or demean others to dictate serious conversations about league policy,” the source told the Blade on Tuesday. “There are no immediate eligibility issues affecting the WNBA.”

Egypt

Iran, Egypt play in World Cup ‘Pride Match’

FIFA allowed Pride flags inside Seattle stadium

Published

2 months ago

June 28, 2026

Michael K. Lavers

(Screen capture via KOMO News/YouTube)

Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.

Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.

Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”

Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.

FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.

“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”

Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.

“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”

“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”

Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.

“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.