Ellia Green - Bingham Cup - First Olympian Trans Man to Come Out
Cover photo credit: Via Radio Australia supplied by Ellia Green
Ellia Green came out as a transgender man in his opening address to the Bingham Cup (the 'World Cup' of gay and inclusive rugby, held biennially) International Summit on ending transphobia and homophobia in sport on August 16, 2022 in Ottawa.
The only other transgender or gender-diverse Olympic gold medallists are Caitlyn Jenner and Quinn, who goes by one name and was part of Canada's winning women's soccer team in Tokyo last year.
Seeing so few trans athletes at the elite level and so much negative commentary on social media, particularly since World Rugby's decision to bar transgender women from playing women's rugby, hastened Green's push to highlight the harm those things can cause some children.
Ellia was born in Suva, Fiji and assigned female at birth. He moved with his adopted parents at the age of 5 years to Australia and went on to represent Australia playing women’s Rugby Sevens & Rugby League. He was part of the Australian Womens team who won a Gold Medal at the Rio Olympics, and a Silver Medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In November 2021 Green announced his retirement.
Now Green wants to advocate for others, emphasising the harm that can be caused when sporting bans are introduced and how those policies can amplify negativity toward trans and gender diverse people.
"Imagine not being able to do what you love because of how you identify, banning transgender people from sport, I think is disgraceful, and I think it's hurtful," he said.
"I think that the alarmingly high rates of suicide and the mental health challenges which trans and gender diverse youth experience will get even worse."
Read his full interview with Radio Australia here
Ellia closed out his opening address with these words
" ... Even without changing genders, changing appearance, identity, people are always going to have something to say, whether that be positive or negative. I learnt that in 10 years of being a professional rugby player. So why not just live the rest of your life exactly as you want to be because life is just too short to live it as something else, and you are beautiful."