And We Have Our First Transgender Athlete In Professional Sports, Harrison Browne Of The NWHL

PuckDaddy- Harrison Browne, a forward for the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League, has publicly announced he is transgender, becoming the first athlete in professional team sports to do so as an active player.

Browne told Yahoo Sports that his teammates at the University of Maine and in the NWHL have referred to him as “Harrison” during his playing career.

“At the end of the day, Harrison is the same player he was last year,” NWHL Commissioner Dani Rylan told ESPNW. “We’re here to support him. It’s really not a big deal when you look at it, we’re respecting his name, the pronouns and his request to be his authentic self.

In the NWHL’s inaugural season of 2015-16, Browne had five goals and seven assists in 18 regular-season games, and four points in five playoff games.



​Huge news obviously. The LGBT community has to be throwing an absolute banger now that all their "letters" have received proper representation - at one point or another - in professional sports. Perfect world? They probably would've liked if it had been on a platform bigger than a women's hockey league that is - according to some reports - dealing with financial difficulties, but it's still technically pro sports and Harrison Browne undoubtedly just became a hero to a rapidly increasing amount of athletes living alternative lifestyles. That's certainly to be applauded, and it's impact is not to be overlooked.

All that being said, can we just acknowledge that he now has a competitive advantage. He's not beginning his actual transition until after his playing career so it's not a physical advantage, but I would imagine there is a mental edge that comes with being the only person with a male name, male pronoun, and male haircut. This probably (definitely) sounds sexist, but a woman that willingly bears the brunt of bigoted criticism to become a gender that is inherently more aggressive has to be viewed as a little tougher by her peers, no? Doesn't even matter that he is only 5'4, Harrison Browne is more intimidating now than he was yesterday. Plus, he's probably moving a little quicker with the weight of the relative unknown off his chest. Just saying, I wouldn't be surprised is that goal total goes up a bit now that Hailey is officially Harrison. If we have learned anything from Odell Beckham it's that the mental is just as important as the physical. I guess in Harrison's mind he's always been the only guy in a league full of girls, but now he's factually the only guy in a league full of girls. I don't care what resides between his legs, that has to have his hypothetical (future) dick swinging just a little bit lower.