The Other Side of Transgender Athletics, Transgender Men
College swimmer Iszac Henig is courageous and true to himself
For the last couple of years, the cisgender sports world seems fixated on the competitive advantages of transgender women. The media, the haters and the ignorant can’t seem to get enough of their righteous indignation. State politicians across the country can’t seem to write legislative bills fast enough to ban transgender women from sports to get votes.
But what about transgender men in sports?
I read an article in the New York Times this past Sunday about a FTM college athlete, Iszac Henig. He is a competitive swimmer for Yale. FTM, for those that don’t know, is the abbreviation of “Female To Male” which describes those people who are born into female bodies but whose gender is male. Another acronym is AFAB for “Assigned Female At Birth.”
What makes Iszac special is that he transitioned from female to male in college but as a biological female, before he transitioned, he became one of the top female high school swimmers in the country. Once in college, Iszac chose to transition to his gender. His coaches gave him a choice to swim for the women’s team or the men’s team.
