New Books in LGBTQ+ Studies · New Books Network

Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne, "Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes" (Beacon Press, 2025)

·41 min·4 clips

Harrison Browne reveals why sports are inherently unfair and how trans athletes are scapegoated for deeper inequalities.

Dr. Miranda Melcher hosts Harrison Browne, the first openly transgender athlete in professional hockey, and investigative journalist Rachel Browne to discuss their co-authored book "Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes." The episode examines the contemporary and historical debates surrounding the inclusion of transgender and non-binary people in sports. Browne explains that the focus on trans athletes represents a strategic shift by political movements following the failure of earlier legislative efforts like bathroom bills. She argues these sports inclusion debates are part of a broader effort to chip away at LGBTQ+ rights and ultimately remove trans people from public life. The conversation traces the history of women's sports, noting the category was originally created to exclude women from athletic participation altogether. Harrison Browne challenges the common argument about competitive fairness, stating that sports are inherently unfair due to variables like height, skill, and crucially, socioeconomic access to coaching and equipment. The hosts detail the impact on youth, where even without formal bans, trans and non-binary athletes face deterrence from sports due to existing transphobia and homophobia. They share an incident where a cisgender girl with short hair was heckled at a track meet under suspicions of being transgender, illustrating the wider impact of the rhetoric. Harrison Browne emphasizes the locker room as a critical, often overlooked space that can foster camaraderie or become a site of bullying, depending on the culture. He describes his positive experience in women's hockey, where many dressing rooms were inclusive spaces with a mix of gay and straight athletes. The NCAA's influence is highlighted as a bottleneck and model for policy, with its 2011 trans-inclusive policy cited as a previous standard that tailored rules to the collegiate athlete's career span. Rachel Browne points out that of over 500,000 NCAA athletes, only about ten are currently transgender. The discussion critiques the overemphasis on biomedical factors like testosterone in policy, arguing that social and economic factors are stronger predictors of athletic performance. Harrison Browne references swimmer Lia Thomas's results as a real-world example of the impact of hormone replacement therapy. A surprising insight is that the authors frame the opposition to trans inclusion as rooted in misogyny and a need to police women's bodies and spaces. They advocate for empowering cisgender women athletes and rejecting a victimhood narrative. Harrison Browne describes Team Trans, a hockey group of over 200 players, as an empowering initiative reclaiming space and narrative for the community. The tone is educational and conversational, blending personal narrative with investigative journalism and policy analysis. Listeners interested in sports policy, LGBTQ+ rights, and the intersection of social justice and athletics will find this episode compelling. Those seeking a debate with opposing viewpoints on transgender athletic participation may find the perspective presented here too one-sided.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how sports debates reach far past the scoreboard.

Harrison Browne and Rachel Harrison talk through the shift from broad gender-debate headlines to the daily reality of team life, and Miranda Melcher keeps the pace moving without losing the human stakes.

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Why you'd press play

If you want trans sports context beyond the usual shouting and shorthand, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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