Harrison Browne, the transgender hockey National Women’s Hockey League player who came out publicly last year, is leaving the league at the end of the season so he can undergo a physical transition that is not allowed under NWHL rules.
“I feel like people don’t take you seriously, and sometimes I don’t take myself seriously either because I’m walking around saying I’m one thing, but I look like I’m something else,” Browne told the New York Times.
League rules, adopted just last year after Browne’s public coming out, would prevent him from undergoing hormone therapy that is key to completing his physical transition.
“The athlete may not take testosterone hormone therapy,” NWHL rules state. “Athletes transitioning to male who undergo hormone therapy will be ineligible to compete.”
Beyond the rules and physical transition, Browne is a man playing in a women’s league. I can only imagine how he feels “in limbo,” waiting for the time he can become the man he was born to be.
“I cannot wait until I don’t have to use the cheat sheet anymore, until people just look at me and then see me for what I am, without me having to say anything, without having to read a story,” Browne told the New York Times.
While he was with the NWHL, playing for the Buffalo Beauts, he had a good run, earning a spot in the league All-Star game this season.
With a playoff game this Friday, his season and career could be over this week.
It’s what we all hope for, and what most of us have no trouble finding on a regular basis. Thankfully, Browne will soon experience that too. And, if it’s a direction he wants to go, hopefully he can find a home in men’s hockey soon.
