

Courtesy of Ian Burt

Olympic triathlete Chris Mosier discusses his experience as the first-ever transgender member of Team USA.

BY

STAFF REPORTER

Chris Mosier can swim over two miles, bike for more than 100 and run a marathon – all in under 12 hours.

He also is the first-ever transgender Team USA member. It’s being transgender, he says, not his feats of athleticism, that is the difficult.

“Living life as a trans person is hard,” he said. “Athletics is voluntary. As much as it hurts, as much as it sucks, it’s a voluntary choice.”

Last Tuesday, Mosier came to the university to speak about his experiences as a transgender man and athlete in a Haven-sponsored event held in the Trabant Lounge. To the dozens of students and community members present, Mosier explained how he uses his position to push for more inclusive standards for transgender athletes at all levels of sport, from K-12 to professional organizations.

For Elias Antelman, the current assistant director of outreach for Haven, booking Mosier to speak on campus was a huge get.

“I wanted to bring him here because I thought his take would be important on a subject we don’t talk about enough,” Antelman said. “I used to bike too, and once I transitioned I didn’t think I could continue. Chris proves that I can.”

As a triathlete, Mosier is rival to the best of the best. It took him years of training to reach the level at which he competes today, but his true accomplishment has been his ability to increase awareness and foster understanding about transgender people.

“If you compare surveys of people who thought they’d seen a ghost to people who knew a trans person, there were more people in America who thought that they’d had a paranormal experience than actually knew a trans person in real life,” he said. “But I’m a real person. We’re real.”

Mosier has narrowed his advocacy into the realm of sports. His work centers on writing clear transgender inclusion policy for sporting organizations and on creating a more welcoming environment for transgender people in athletic institutions across the country.

One of the greatest concerns Mosier has for the future of transgender inclusion in sports is that locker room talk is often times intolerant and prejudiced against sexual and gender minorities like lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

“Homophobia is tossed around casually and without thought in athletics,” he said. “I grew up playing ‘Smear the Queer,’ like I said before. It’s everywhere and it creates unsafe spaces for athletes.”

Students in attendance noted the importance of having a safe place for transgender students on campus specifically, and how exciting it was to have such a revered role model come to speak.

For Nat Veiga, a sophomore at the university, seeing Chris Mosier was a good first step in providing those safe spaces for students.

“I never expected to see a transgender masculine person on campus,” they said. “I identify with Chris and after the election and what that means, it was a move in the right direction to have someone come and talk about my shared experiences.”

The election of Donald Trump was also addressed in Mosier’s talk. He voiced his concern about the president-elect and what his term in office might mean for the future of transgender rights across the board.

“We’re in this position in the world with the outcome of the presidential election where I think everything is about to change again,” he said. “I can represent my country in international competition, but people are worried about where I use the bathroom. There are a lot of things wrong here.”

Mosier plans to help quell discrimination by being even more open about who he is. As an athlete, transgender person and an advocate, he says that being visible is the simplest, but perhaps most effective, way he can push for equal rights.

“I’m going to be extra queer,” he said. “By being extra out, extra me, I think that is the best way that I can effect change.”