Wait what? I missed this one. Too much trump-watching no doubt.

Outsports sets the scene:

Hannah Mouncey is an athlete of unique distinction. She’s been part of a men’s national team that qualified for the World Championships, and she has also done it with her country’s women’s team.

Not many athletes — if any — can make that claim.

Well, no, because most male athletes wouldn’t consider it fair or sporting – let alone any kind of achievement or “distinction” – to compete against women. The fact that Mouncey is cool with it isn’t really a distinction, it’s more of a gross imposition.

Now on the latest episode of Five Rings To Rule Them All, she opens up about those experiences, playing Aussie rules football and being banned by the AFLW hours before the league’s draft, overcoming homelessness and mental illness through her transition, and the notion that she and other trans women are safety risks to other female athletes.

It’s not a “notion,” it’s just a damn fact. He’s built like a truck.

She also chronicles her struggles with Handball Australia, and the fight over her use of the locker room that she says ultimately left her thousands of miles away from the competition during the 2019 World Championship.

Ah yes the fight over his use of the women’s locker room – I posted about that a year ago. Mouncey said:

I can confirm that yes, I was left out of the team for the World Championships because there was a group of players within the team, supported by the team manager, who did not want me showering or using the change rooms before or after the game. This was in turn the sole reason given to me by our coach for my non selection.

I later had it confirmed by someone else within Handball Australia who had done some digging that: “From everything I’ve been told, you’ve basically not been picked because you’re not liked.” And the reason I’m not liked is because I told our manager, and by extension those players, exactly where he and they could go in trying to tell me where I could change and shower.

In other words he told the manager and players exactly where they could go for not wanting to get naked next to him. What a mensch.

This is going to happen over and over, and eventually you become very comfortable in saying no to people, regardless of how forceful you need to be. So many people spend their whole lives trying to please others and giving in to everything that is asked of them, and being able to develop the skills and confidence to say no is truly wonderful.

But this of course is only for the Hannah Mounceys. It’s not at all for the women who don’t want to compete against him or break their legs in a tangle with him or shower with him. They don’t get to say no, and their skills and confidence to say no are nothing but evil transphobia.

But never mind, now they’ve realized the error of their ways.

Handball Australia seeks to improve LGBTQI+ inclusion policy to better meet member needs. In furtherance of this, we acknowledge that at the Asian Championships in November 2018, a request was made of Hannah Mouncey which in hindsight was inappropriate. We recognise that this caused Hannah distress, anger and to feel isolated.

Meaning, it was inappropriate not to let him take his clothes off with the women.

Handball Australia regrets and acknowledges the hurt caused and extends a sincere apology to Hannah for not being able to resolve the issue before it impacted Hannah’s relationship with the sport and organisation. We hope that in time she will feel comfortable returning to the sport in some capacity.

And the women who would be forced to take their clothes off next to him? Has anyone talked to them?

In this vein, Handball Australia is committed to improving our member inclusion and protection policies. As a result of ongoing discussions, Hannah; a long-time Handball player and 2018 Victorian LGBT Sportsperson of the Year, has kindly agreed to work with Handball Australia in improving its inclusion policies and participant education, using her experience to help improve and pave the way for current and future players. She will be drawing on her 10-year playing career and experiences – nationally and internationally – to help significantly update the LGBTQI+ aspects of the policy and inform Handball Australia’s practical implementation for players, officials, and administration.

Handball Australia adopted the IOC guidelines around transgender participation published in 2016. SportAUS launched their transgender and gender diverse inclusion guidelines in mid-2019. We will be using these guidelines to further inform our member inclusion and protection policies.

All for the Mounceys, nothing for the women.