Harrison Browne, a forward for the National Women’s Hockey League’s Buffalo Beauts, announced Friday that he is a transgender male in an interview with ESPN.
The announcement makes Browne the first professional team athlete to openly identify as transgender.
“I identify as a man,” Browne told ESPN. “My family is starting to come to grips with it, now it’s my time to be known as who I am, to be authentic and to hear my name said right when I get a point, or see my name on a website.”
In a separate blog post, Browne said the announcement was timed to the start of the NWHL’s second season, which begins Friday.
“Beginning today ― the start of the 2016-17 National Women’s Hockey League season ― I’m making official what has been part of my life for a few years now. I’m Harrison. I’m a ‘he.’ As in ‘Harrison Browne made a good pass for the primary assist on that goal by the Beauts.’ Or ‘He really lost his check on that one,’ haha,” Browne wrote.
Browne, 23, told Yahoo Sports that his teammates in college ― at the University of Maine ― and in the NWHL have known about his gender identity and called him Harrison.
Browne also said that he notified the NWSL’s front office and commissioner Dani Rylan of his intention to come out, and received the league’s support. Browne will not legally change his name or undergo a physical transition until his hockey career is over, he said he told the league.
“The Commissioner immediately responded that all would be taken care of, and made it clear that the league office had my unconditional support,” Browne wrote. “That was so nice to hear.”
“At the end of the day, Harrison is the same player he was last year,” Rylan told ESPN. “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.”