Katalina Murrie makes a triumphant return to her sport of kayaking this weekend, switching gender categories and this time competing as her true self and against women. The transgender athlete left the sport years ago in part due to injuries, and in part because she transitioned. While she CBC News she thought that might be the end of her paddling, she just couldn’t stay away.
"Being trans is the most important part of my life and paddling is the second," she told CBC News.
She will compete in the Whitewater National Championships this weekend to mark her big return.
In her coming out video, titled “What happened to your best buddy,” Murrie addressed the sensitive topic of people using the wrong name or pronouns for her, something that transgender people face all the time.
“If you make a mistake, if you use the wrong name or pronouns, just like fix it and try hard next time,” she said. “Let people know about this or send them this video.
“If someone uses the wrong name and pronouns on purpose to like spite me or hurt me or to just like pretend I’m not trans, even though I’m clearly trans, I’m so sorry that humanity was burned out of your heart. Either way I’m here to paddle so I’m not going anywhere.”
In the video she pointed her friends and followers to this resource from The 519, an LGBT group in Toronto.
You can watch the video here.
We wish Murrie much good fortune this weekend as she makes a return to her sport! We know how much sports mean to the mental health of transgender people, and we hope the entire sport will embrace her return with open arms.
