Basketball Player With Transgender Girlfriend: Scores on the court and as a role model. Navi Huskey shines as a student-athlete, doctoral candidate, and activist. Donation “Navi” Huskey exudes a dynamic, flowing mix of force and panache. Basketball’s rhythm allows people to express themselves and define themselves. “I aspired to be the most beautiful expression of Femininity,” Huskey added. “It was a place where I could be tall, athletic, and feminine.”
Huskey has made balancing an art. They are a 31-year-old transfeminine nonbinary all-conference guard at Long Beach City College who is also pursuing a Ph.D. in psychological sciences at UC-Irvine just down the freeway. Huskey had 22 points and 19 rebounds per game in 2020 (the 2021 season at LBCC was canceled due to the Covid-19 epidemic), leading an unbeaten South Coast Conference division team. They were also named co-MVP of the Conference with Isabel Lizarraga.
Navi Huskey’s journey to this point was multi-faceted.
They grew up in Tustin, California, as an “Orange County Black math and scientific nerd”. They also had a huge interest in basketball, but not enough to make the Tustin High squad. They were a practicing player for the women’s squad at Harvey Mudd College. Undaunted, the net was stretched to encompass junior colleges throughout Southern California. Many schools turned her down. LBCC didn’t.
The Los Angeles-based Lambda Basketball League, a flagship of the National Gay Basketball Association, handed Huskey a club after previously denying him. The league also introduced them to a welcoming community and a life-altering trip. “I stated I didn’t care about basketball since I’d been rejected so many times,” Huskey recounted. “I wanted to be more gender flexible and free. Then I got a gender assessment. I eventually began to love myself and realized that I could do anything I set my mind to.”
Navi Huskey skirts basketball
Like the rangy 6-footer, they went after their best selves. With a sibling who was a starter at Hawaii Pacific, or aggressively donning a skirt in the fray at the Gay Games, Huskey was all in. “Running up and down the court, posting people up, and you’re wearing a skirt,” Huskey added. “I got to accept both my femininity and masculinity.”
They remembered meeting a transsexual woman during an NGBA national event. That was another turning point for Huskey. By 2018, they were progressing professionally. They had already received a master’s degree and applied for a Ph.D. program at USC as trans, out, and proud. Huskey had many affirming surgeries in 2019. Their outside became to reflect their inside feelings and thoughts. They also dreamed of playing tennis. Navi Huskey aspired to play in college. They requested a tryout with the UC-Irvine women’s basketball team, but the Anteaters declined.
“There were only six girls when I arrived and they had lost their entire team from last year,” they said. The teams we had to play against were familiar to me, and I thought ‘We can’t play against them like this.’ The LBCC coaching staff added players. The squad bonded rapidly, aided by a 31-year-old trans-student-experiences. athlete “These females asked me before surgery, ‘Are you going to have all this work done?’ and ‘What will you look like on the other side?’” He said. “I tried to be as open as I could. In this environment, I feel free to discuss anything at any time.”
The NGBA represents LGBTQ basketball
The organization hosts tournaments and has members from all around the country. More info at NGBA.org. Affirming their expertise in their personal experiences, they added that “everyone is trans differently”. I attempted to educate as much as I could.” Their openness originated from an occurrence a year prior. Huskey and Juice went to the Coachella music festival in California. Beyoncé was the festival’s ideal headliner for Huskey. Both were in the queue for the restroom before the show.
When Huskey got to the front of the queue, a facility attendant humiliatingly told them they couldn’t use the women’s restroom. “This lady makes it very obvious that I am not going to be permitted in the restroom,” Huskey said. “I’m at Coachella, I spent a lot of money to be here, and I’m being called out in front of everyone.” They attempted to forget what had happened and enjoy a favorite performer. The next day, Huskey’s transmasculine sibling has turned away from the men’s restroom at the same performance. Huskey told him what had transpired the day before, and they agreed they couldn’t let it go.
“This seems to be a systematic issue, not a one-off,” they said. “I felt we had to act correctly.”
The right thing started with an email to the event organizers, via the LA Times. After no immediate reaction, they contacted attorneys, and the American Civil Liberties Union of California got involved. The ACLU wrote to the festival’s organizers, Anschutz Entertainment Group and AEG Presents, seeking better policies. Coachella organizers met with Navi and Juice in 2019 to build out preventative procedures and training.
Huskey’s swagger created a boardroom opportunity. The hardwood had the same properties. Assembly Bill 1266, sponsored by San Francisco Democrat Tom Ammiano, would allow transgender youth to play sports. Opponents fear admitting transgender people to sports teams will lead to co-ed locker rooms. Gabrielle Ludwig isn’t waiting for the bill’s fate. Instead, the 51-year-old transgender woman took action.
Transgender persons on sports teams are Controversial
For a woman of my age, the length of time you have to live as a woman, with all the hormones that have physically changed your body, balances out. “Things change, the muscles atrophy. I’m not walking on the court as a guy, but a lady.” Ludwig walked on to the Lady Saints basketball team at Mission College last autumn. The tall German-born, Wyoming-raised Desert Storm soldier spent most of her life as Robert Ludwig.
A woman since 2007, Ludwig underwent gender reassignment surgery last summer, but she claims she felt she was born to be a woman. “Sometimes you just can’t grasp what’s going on, but you kind of put it away,” Ludwig added. “I guess I first saw it when I realised I wasn’t alone. Knowing that I wasn’t alone let me feel better when I had access to the Internet in 1990.”
Ludwig enrolled at Mission College because of a job opportunity, but her expertise in coaching youth basketball and friendship with the team’s coach drove her to try out. Suddenly, Ludwig found herself on a basketball court, trying out with a bunch of ladies plainly in better shape than she. “I was having a hard time keeping up with these women, who have such defined muscles and are so fast, I had to ask myself, ‘What am I doing here?'”
Ludwig also wanted to discuss her gender identity with her teammates to ensure a smooth transition. She recalls a team gathering. “‘Me being on this squad is going to cause some issues, both positive and negative, and I’m simply here for the love of the game,’ I told them. Do you have issues with a 51-year-old transgender woman on your basketball team?’ “Lutz said. “‘Look around, Gabby, you’ll be completely at home.’ Just go hard and 100%.’ It was all over now and it was up to me to get in shape.”
