Chris Mosier was the first transgender athlete to represent the United States in international competition, after earning a spot on Team USA’s sprint duathlon men’s team in the 2016 World Championship.
American transgender athlete Chris Mosier Photo: Twitter / Chris Mosier
Then in 2020, Mosier became the first openly transgender male athlete to compete in an Olympic trial alongside other men, although he was unable to finish the race due to injury.
He says Laurel Hubbard competing in Tokyo 2020 is meaningful, not only to the trans- community as a whole, but personally as he has spent “the last decade of my life trying to lay the groundwork for this moment“.
Mosier said it was unfortunate that Hubbard's safety became an issue.
"Unfortunately the environment that was created by the fervour of the media as well as people who lack an understanding about what it means to be transgender really created an unsafe situation for Laurel to be her best athlete self on the world stage."
Mosier said he understands the heartbreak of not performing on the day of a big event but despite that Laurel Hubbard made history at the Olympics this year.
"She made it to the world stage, she broke so many barriers and became the very first transgender, known transgender woman to participate in women's sports in the Olympics, you know she really paved the way not just for transgender women who come after her but really for every young trans and non-binary person who's looking for examples of success in the areas that they want to go."
Mosier said she also started a global conversation about trans people in sports and he is very proud of her.
Critical time in terms of gender and sport
Mosier is also the founder of transathete.com, a resource to find information about trans inclusion in athletics at various levels of play.
He said trans people play sports for the same reasons as anyone else - for the love of the game, the camaraderie and the mental, physical, social and psychological benefits that come from playing sports.
Mosier said every sports governing body and association has a policy or has to make decisions about the permissibility of participating in their sport and Hubbard met all those requirements.
"Laurel satisfied all of the requirements of New Zealand, of her sport's national governing body and of the Olympics in order to qualify and earn her spot there like every other athlete.
"No one is born a man, we're born babies. Every single one of us is a born a baby and we figure it out from there, you know we put a lot of stereotypes and myths and there are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be a man or to be a woman."
Mosier said testosterone is not the "it factor" for any athletic performance. Photo: AFP
Mosier said we are at a critical time in terms of gender and sport.
As well as transgender women some cis women athletes, who are not transgender, are also being policed at the Olympics because of their level of excellence to ensure that they do not have too much testosterone in their bodies, he said.
Mosier said the science data about testosterone and performance is still unclear and there are not good studies about transgender athletes or trans women in general in terms of their performance.
"The studies that people have used to sort of weaponise testosterone against the trans community to try to keep us out of sport has really been picked and chosen based on what they wanted to say.
"One of the things that people say is that this is the end of women's sports and you know we've had out trans athletes from Renee Richards almost 50 years ago - and it was the very same conversation then, it was 'this is going to the end of women's sports, trans women are going to dominate'."
But Mosier said it is only now that we are getting the first transgender Olympians.
He said that Laurel Hubbard needs to be big because she is a powerlifter, but she has "often been used as the stereotype for all transgender athletes".
"What we fail to recognise is that there's not just one body type or one set of skills that lends itself well to all different sports."
For example, Mosier said he is an excellent duathlete who has represented the US six times, but he said does not excel in sports like swimming or weightlifting.
"We all find the sport that is suited to us and testosterone is not the it factor for any athletic performance."
Laurel Hubbard has often been used as a stereoptype for all trans gender athletes, Mosier said. Photo: PHOTOSPORT/ John Cowpland
I got the message I was 'doing girl wrong'
Mosier said there is no "trans agenda" and he knew he who he was from a very young age.
"I'm just trying to live my life in the way that I know I was meant to live, and I knew from a very very young age that I wasn't quite like my brother but I was most certainly not like the other girls in my class.
"I had a very strong sense of self about how I should show up in this world, how I should exist in this world and how I should be treated in this world and how people should refer to me - and that was when I was four years old."
Mosier said he was given the message from adults and his peers that he was "doing girl wrong".
He said being trans is not a choice and the only decision that trans people make is "to let other people in on their truth".
Mosier said in the US lawmakers are trying to introduce laws to prevent young trans people from playing sports with their peers at the youth and sometimes university level and also to prevent gender affirming care for transgender youth.
"What I think people don't understand is that these decisions are made with doctors, with guardians and they're made with the best medical intentions in mind. No young person is having sex reassignment surgery."
Mosier said puberty blockers that some young people are taking are reversible.
He said should a young person on puberty blockers change their mind and go off them, they would be okay but just a little behind in going through their path in terms of puberty.
More young people identifying as gender fluid/non-binary
Mosier said in the US more and more young people are identifying as gender fluid and non-binary.
"That information tells me that already young people are feeling more fluid, they're starting to change the way that the systems exist to say that 'you need to make space for me'".
He said it is evident in sport policies, schools, recreational activities and marketing.
Mosier said you don't have to have had gender alignment surgery to be trans and doing so is a personal choice.
"For me showing up in the world with breasts was inauthentic - it felt wrong, I always envisioned myself as a young person having a flat chest and a six pack abs ... and I was pretty darn sad when puberty hit and that wasn't going to be the case.
"I needed to align my body with myself to be able to fully show up in this world and feel like myself."
