Former Australian rugby player Ellia Green came out as a trans man and asked the wider public, as well as rugby fans, to respect her “liberation” decision.
The Australian Olympian has reported serious mental health issues since retiring from the sport last year.
The announcement was made in a pre-recorded video shown at an international summit dedicated to ending homophobia and transphobia in sport in Canada.
“When my rugby career ended, I promised myself that I would continue to live the rest of my life in the person and body I knew I should be,” said Green, a member of the Australian rugby sevens team. Gold medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“I know it will be the most liberating feeling when I have surgery and find myself in the body I need to be. There was a bright spark in my mind during the dark times I encountered demons, but I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel.”
Other transgender Olympic gold medalists are Caitlyn Jenner, who transitioned nearly 40 years after winning the Montreal Olympics in 1976, and Quinn, who shares the same name and is part of the Canadian women’s soccer team that won in Tokyo last year.
Green, 29, admitted he found himself in a “dark place” after retiring from rugby at the end of 2021.
“That’s what happened to me,” Green told the AP in an interview that coincided with the announcement. “By the way, my rugby career came to an end and I was in and out of psychiatric institutions due to serious problems. My depression has reached a new level of sadness.”
File/Ellia Green tackles the ball during the Sydney Sevens Pool 2020 match between Australia and France at Bankwest Stadium in Sydney, Australia, February 2, 2020. (Brett Hemmings/Getty)
Ellia Green and her daughter Waitui arrive in Sydney, Australia on Monday, August 15, 2022. Green, one of the stars of the Australian women’s sevens rugby team, which won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, moved to the male role. Green, 29, from Fiji, posted the video at the Ottawa International Summit of the Bingham Cup Rugby Tournament. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Green says he’s in a better place now with his partner Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts and their son Waitui.
“Vanessa is pregnant and needs to go to the hospital to visit her,” Greene said. “I’ve had bad times. I want him to see me like this for the last time. But the only way to help heal is to talk about it . . . I want to help someone not feel lonely by telling my story.”
Rugby is currently crashing trans players and their level of participation in sports.
British rugby seeks to ban transgender athletes from competing with women https://t.co/uMiAi1HIpX
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 22, 2022
The British Rugby Football Association, for example, is moving towards banning transgender athletes from competing with women by birth, according to Breitbart London.
The announcement of the ban last month came after two years of consideration and could take effect next season if approved by the RFU Council.
Source: Breitbart
