Article Reference:

Riseman, Noah. "A history of transgender women in Australian Sports, 1976–2017." Sport in History (2021): 1-28.

Caroline Layt

Caroline’s a Trans Woman who advocates for Transgender people in sports and wider society, as she was bullied and had her own rights questioned when she played women’s [club and representative] rugby union and rugby league in the early 2000s. 

Despite prejudices she experienced when she was outed in 2005, she had positive people support her and she still managed to  eke out a good career and represent NSW in Women’s State of Origin in 2007-08 and win four Rugby Australia National Championships as a member of Sydney First XV 2004-05 and 2007-08.

In 2004 she was nominated as one of six finalists for the prestigious Sydney Morning Herald Women’s Rugby Player of the Year Awards prior to her being outed as Transgender to all and sundry by her representative coach the following year. 

Caroline’s a former Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor and she’s now a Freelance Journalist who recently produced an award winning documentary. Her other sport is track and field and she's won 4 silver and 2 bronze medals [sprint relays and throws] at World Masters Athletics Championships and World Masters Games she’s competed in overseas and in Australia. 

https://universalcinema.ca/review-is-this-queensland-in-the-20s/

https://universalcinema.ca/is-this-queensland-in-the-20s-caroline-layt/

https://thewomensgame.com/author/caroline-layt-1203054

https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/aged-care-equality/168555

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/playing-experience-a-missing-piece-in-transgender-players-debate-20200819-p55nac.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMxlUqWW6SE&t=10s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rSIP2haDjk&t=1s

Noah Riseman

Noah Riseman is a professor of history at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, where he specialises in Australian histories of gender, sexuality and race. He has recently completed a project on the history of LGBTIQ+ people in the Australian Defence Force and has also done research on the history of Indigenous Australians in the armed forces. This podcast and the Sport in History article derive from his current project researching the history of transgender people in Australia. Listeners interested in that broader topic may wish to read this report Noah recently authored on Victoria's transgender history: Victoria's Transgender History Report | TGV.

Some of the publications Noah mentioned in the podcast which may be of interest are:

Noah Riseman. "Representing Transgender in the 1970s Australian Media." Gender and History 33, no. 1 (2021): 227-248.

Noah Riseman. "Transgender Inclusion and Australia's Failed Sexuality Discrimination Bill." Australian Journal of Politics and History 62, no. 2 (June 2019): 259-277. 

Benjamin Law. Moral Panic 101: Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal. Quarterly Essay 67. Carlton, VIC: Schwartz Publishing Pty Ltd, 2017.

Noah Riseman and Caroline Layt on Transgender Athletes in Australia

This week Geoff talks to two guests, Prof Matt Taylor and Dr Raf Nicholson, who have co-authored an article for the latest issue of the Society’s journal, Sport in History, 'Women, sport and the people’s war in Britain, 1939–45'.

Geoff also catches up with Richard Boddie to talk about the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize which is awarded each year by the Society to recognise excellence in sport history.

To access the journal article go to https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460263.2020.1824939

Matthew Taylor is Professor of History in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, where he is one of our foremost sports historians with numerous publications on the history of association football in particular. His latest book is Sport and the Home Front: Wartime Britain at Play, 1939-45, which was published by Routledge in 2020 and is available in all good bookshops.

Dr Raf Nicholson of Bournemouth University is a longtime friend and presenter of the podcast and current chair of the BSSH, who specialises in women's sports history. Her most recent book is  Ladies at Lord’s: A History of Women’s Cricket in Britain, which was published by Peter Lang in 2019 and short-listed for the Lord Aberdare Prize in 2020.

Matt Taylor & Raf Nicholson Women's Sport in WW2

The Sport in History Podcast brings you the latest in cutting edge research with interviews and talks with leading sports historians and up and coming researchers into Sports History. The podcast is a British Society of Sports History production from the UK's leading scholarly society for the history of sport. Click through to our website for further information on our events and to find out how to join the Society.

Noah Riseman and Caroline Layt on Transgender Athletes in Australia

Sport in History

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