History Continues: Harrison Browne, North America’s First Openly Trans Athlete

History begins.

Last season, the NWHL made these words into a mantra. Never before had the world of hockey seen an entire professional league of women players being paid to play. Never before had little girls been able to excitedly announce that they wanted to be a Buffalo Beaut, a New York Riveter, a Boston Pride, or a Connecticut Whale.

Now, in an unexpected way, the NWHL is yet again making history; paving new paths for players and fans alike.

Harrison Browne, a forward for the Buffalo Beauts, has become the first professional, openly-transgender athlete in North America and the first transgender athlete in the NWHL. Coming out after a year with the team, Browne released a YouTube video and a letter to SB Nation’s The Ice Garden in which he revealed his gender identity, his love for hockey, and his plans to stay in the league.

In his video, Browne—or “Brownie,” as Beauts fans and players know him—appears pleasantly shocked as he describes how accepting the NWHL was to his coming out.

“I just got cleared that I can use my new name, Harrison, and I can go by male pronouns in the media, when they address me on the ice, in the rosters, my biographies,” he said, gray eyes darting.

“Everything will be male, which will be a huge thing.” The corners of his lips turn up into a small smile, one he has appeared to be holding back since the start of the video.

Browne also stresses the necessity of visibility in the sporting world for transgender players, pledging to make videos throughout the season as he documents his first year playing as an out and proud trans man. Through vlogs and Q&As, Browne hopes not only to educate people about his experience, but to be a role model to trans youth. As long as he continues to play in the NWHL, Browne cannot complete many of the medical procedures that trans people utilize in their transition, such as hormone therapy. However, he asserts that this does not make him any less of a man.

“I’m here to show you that you can be a man without having to go through all of those things,” he said in his video.

As a new spokesman for the You Can Play Project, an advocacy group for athletes that aims to promote a healthy climate for LGBTQIA athletes, Browne will have a chance to be that visible role model that young players can look up to. After receiving Browne’s request to come out publicly last month, the NWHL has begun efforts to create a league-wide policy that accepts transgender players, beginning with the You Can Play partnership.

Browne appropriately summed up his feelings about being out and proud on October 11, otherwise known as National Coming Out Day, on his Twitter page:

#NWHL #womenshockey #HarrisonBrowne #LGBTQIA