Team Trans тамирчид Бостонд нөхөрсөг тоглолт хийж спортын талбарт нэгдлээ

BOSTON — On a Saturday in August at the Boston Bruins’ practice facility, Mason LeFebvre put on his goalie gear and headed out to the ice.

LeFebvre grew up playing girls hockey in New Hampshire. For years, his mask, pads and chest protector were a form of armor.

“When I would put it on, I wouldn’t feel like the boy trapped in a girl’s body so much because I could just be me, the goalie,” said LeFebvre, 32, who came out as transgender shortly after he graduated from college.

That weekend in Boston, no one had to hide. It was the one time a year members of Team Trans, an all-transgender rec hockey team, gathered from across the country for a series of friendlies.

They came from Wisconsin and New York, California and Maryland and Arizona, with rainbow-taped hockey sticks and custom jerseys, some in their 20s and some in their 40s, some with decades of hockey experience, others with just a few years. They came to banter in a locker room and play with teammates without worrying about strange looks or transphobic comments or any of the national discourse.

Less than two months after the Supreme Court upheld state bans on trans athletes, and while WNBA players and fans protested and counterprotested trans policies in sports, a group of trans hockey players got together and just played.

Team Trans was born from an idea hatched at a bar in Manhattan after a game between Boston Pride Hockey and the New York City Gay Hockey Association, two all-gender LGBTQ+ hockey organizations. From there, a Facebook group of trans hockey players across the country turned into a team of 16 that traveled to Massachusetts in 2019 for a friendly against Boston Pride Hockey.

“For months I couldn’t figure out how to talk about it, because it was just such a different experience,” LeFebvre said. “Family is the word I usually come back to.”

Since then, Team Trans has organized annual friendlies and sent teams to rec tournaments across the country. While states and professional leagues have moved away from trans athlete policies based on hormone levels and age of transition and toward outright bans, Team Trans has only grown — as have other LGBTQ+ hockey leagues. This year, the all-gender team fielded 41 athletes for three games against Boston Pride — novice, intermediate and advanced — in Team Trans’ first return to Boston since the inaugural game. The NHL donated $10,000, which went toward travel and accommodations for players in need of financial aid, and the Bruins donated the ice time.

“A lot of people want to have that experience and didn’t necessarily get to have it as a kid … or had it as a kid, maybe they grew up playing hockey, but then they came out and stopped playing,” LeFebvre said. “Now they’re starting to hear about Team Trans and queer hockey organizations and stuff and starting to come back to the sport. We’ve got a lot of players who had entirely quit hockey until they learned about us.”

On the bench at Warrior Arena in between periods, Team Trans’ novice squad, down a few goals to Boston Pride, strategized. They were doing a decent job in front of the net, their coach said, but needed to be stronger on defense.

“We’re here to have fun, but we’re also here to win,” someone said in the huddle.

A few trans players who typically compete for Boston Pride had switched over to Team Trans for the weekend to play with other trans athletes.

“This is my home team, and I need them to know we’re better than them,” another said.

The third period began, and they headed back out onto the ice. Team Trans managed a few more shots, but ultimately lost, 3-2. The advanced team suited up for the next game.

The recreational level, especially in LGBTQ+ leagues, is one of the few places trans athletes can often just show up and play. Few are trying to go pro; they’re not aiming for Olympic medals. They have a variety of opinions on how they think leagues should legislate trans athlete participation at the professional level, about what fairness should look like without banning the trans community outright.

But during this weekend, no one was there to debate. Playing rec hockey, on teams divided by skill level rather than gender, they sought only what most want out of casual sports: camaraderie and good competition.

For Team Trans’ first return to Boston since the inaugural game in 2019, the NHL donated $10,000 and the Bruins donated the ice time. (Hannah Carpenter via Boston Pride Hockey)

“It definitely affects us, but we try really hard to keep it at bay,” LeFebvre said about the news cycle. “We’re going to try not to sit here and talk about it with each other because that’s not what we’re here for. It kind of gives us a break from all of it.”

But politics have made their way to beer leagues, too. In January, USA Hockey approved a policy in which athletes can only participate on gendered teams “based on their sex assigned at birth.” USA Hockey said it implemented the rule in response to directives from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, but it also affects the rec level, since many rec leagues affiliate with USA Hockey for insurance purposes.

For Team Trans and other LGBTQ+ hockey teams, the rules mostly mean they have to find new insurance providers for events like the one in Boston. But some athletes worry about what the new rules mean for their rec teams at home.

There is no LGBTQ+ rec league where Jaylynn Johnstone lives in Maryland. Instead, she plays for a local women’s league and referees at various levels for USA Hockey. Johnstone’s name has appeared on an anti-trans website tracking trans women who play sports. Once, a woman said “f—k you” to her in the handshake line after a game.

“It can really feel like there’s no real way out of this, honestly,” she said.

That won’t stop Johnstone from officiating, a skill she has honed since she was a 12-year-old growing up in Anchorage, Alaska. She refuses to take the trans pride sticker off her helmet.

“It can feel like, at times, just isolating,” she said. “You try and find glimpses of joy like in these tournaments, to just help remind you that this is just a very normal experience in life… It fills your cup, especially in dark times.”

Laur, who typically plays on Team Trans’ novice and intermediate teams, was on the bench coaching Team Trans’ novice team at the Boston series because of a knee injury. They declined to give their last name to protect their privacy.

They had always wanted to play hockey, but never had a chance to learn until adulthood. When they started questioning their gender, they wondered if they were “trans enough” for Team Trans. The group welcomed them with open arms. They met their partner at the tournament in 2021, and a year later, surprised her with a proposal on the ice.

“You don’t have to worry about, ‘Oh, how am I presenting here? Do I need to bring a set of clothes to change into, out of, et cetera?’” Laur said.

With Team Trans, they continued, “It is the exact opposite, where here, I’m excited to be myself.”

At home, they play on a women’s team, where they feel like they have to hide part of their identity. In recent years, their fear has grown.

“Fear of, can I be my true authentic self at my home team locker room?” Laur said. “Can I risk going to a series where there might be news stories about folks?”

Team Trans is a place to let loose. Brooke McGinley grew up playing boys hockey in Medford, Mass., in locker rooms that she said often featured homophobic rhetoric. Sometimes, she felt players were checking her harder on the ice. That wasn’t the case at Warrior Arena.

“This is a very healthy environment. It’s very accepting,” she said in the locker room before the series. “People can literally let their hair down.”

The next day, Team Trans players would board trains and flights home, some to teams and communities where they could be themselves, and others to places where they might have to worry about changing their driver’s licenses or accessing healthcare. In the days to follow, the controversy in the WNBA would only heat up.

But for one weekend in August, athletes could check their fears at the door.

“It’s really important to show that we aren’t going anywhere,” LeFebvre said. “We’re still here, we’ve always been here, and we’re going to keep being here.”

On the ice for the last game of the day, LeFebvre lost count of the number of shots he blocked; Team Trans ultimately lost three close games to Boston Pride. But none of that really mattered. Spirits high, it was time to hit the bar.