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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

NYC: Come To Our WNBA Comedy Show On May 16

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Live Event

Investigations Editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

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Diana Moskovitz

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) (L) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) (R) speak about an alleged screenshot from the Instagram of USA Fencing board director Damien Lehfeldt during the hearing on “Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports" held by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee at the U.S. Capitol on May 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. Green is holding a photo that makes it look like Lehfeldt is pointing at himself with his middle finger. Stansbury is holding up a larger capture of the same photo that shows him making a peace sign with the same hand.

House Oversight DOGE Subcommittee Holds Hearing On Protecting Women’s Sports

Politics

The DOGE Fencing Hearing Was Stupid And Pointless Even By Congressional Standards

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Kathryn Xu

Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress

The DOGE Fencing Hearing Reveals The Latest In Anti-Trans Grift

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Lauren Theisen

Gays Against Guns contingent at the pride march.

Gays Against Guns contingent at the march. Pride March NYC

Don’t Buy A Gun, Even If It Comes In Rainbow

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Typing

Sabrina Imbler

A screenshot of a graphic including a photo of Sam Nordquist, a Black transgender man with a moustache, wearing a backwards cap and staring at the camera. The top of the graphic says "Gone But Not Forgotten" with two doves on either side. And the rest of the image states: Sam Nordquist. Canandaigua, NY. Last seen: January 1, 2025. Age: 24

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Who Gets To Determine A Hate Crime?

Julie Kliegman is a writer and editor in Queens, New York. They wrote <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538168066/Mind-Game-An-Inside-Look-at-the-Mental-Health-Playbook-of-Elite-Athletes">Mind Game: An Inside Look at the Mental Health Playbook of Elite Athletes</a> and are at work on a biography of Renée Richards. Their work has also appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, Bookforum, Slate, The Ringer, Texas Monthly, Vulture, BuzzFeed News, and The Verge.

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Julie Kliegman

a female golfer floats in space, looking down on a giant moon-like golf ball

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Golf

Hailey Davidson Loves Golf, And Golf Wants To Get Rid Of Her

Imane Khelif of Team Algeria and Angela Carini of Team Italy exchange punches

Boxing – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 6

Olympics

J.K. Rowling Invents A Trans Olympian To Get Mad At

A Rockies fan by birth and a White Sox fan by geographic proximity, Annie Howard spends her non-suffering sports moments ardently rooting for the Nuggets and the Orioles.

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Annie Howard

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Arts And Culture

‘I Saw The TV Glow’ Unfurls The Great Trans Unknown

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Patrick Redford

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NAIA Becomes First Organization To Ban Trans Athletes From College Sports

Passengers wait in the TSA screening line

Christmas Holiday Travel 2023 at Orlando International Airport

The Machines

The TSA Has Thwarted My Anti-Groping Strategy

a grid of ultrasound images of my (now former) breasts may they RIP!

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Life Lessons

Even Good Health Insurance Is Bad; Or, How I Got Top Surgery With A Family History Of Breast Cancer

a woman climbing a gigantic mountain of paperwork with an Id at the top

Name Change

What’s In A Name? A Lot Of Paperwork, Actually

A. Andrews is a thirty-something disabled queer/trans writer and illustrator. They spent the majority of their young life sketching in hospitals and experienced their first heartbreak at age 8 during Game 6 of the &#8217;96 NBA championships. When they aren’t writing and drawing their guts out, they’re hanging with their dog, George, and drinking too many coffees. They will probably never tell you “what’s wrong with [them]” and you shouldn’t ask! They were named one of The Advocate&#8216;s 2021 People of the Year, are a 2020 Tin House Summer Workshop scholar, and their debut graphic novel, A Quick and Easy Guide to Sex &amp; Disability topped 2020 lists for the NYPL best books for teens, and YALSA&#8217;s best books for teens, and is available anywhere books are sold. You can find more of their work at Washington Post, Esquire, the Nib, and other fun corners of the internet.

A. Andrews

Drawing of a group of people helping each other over a labyrinth

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Histories Of Transition

How I Transitioned With Complex Disability

The table with the chess board appears ready for the game between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi on the first day of competition at the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament on June 17, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. (Miguel Pereira/Getty Images)

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Chess

The International Chess Federation’s Argument For Banning Trans Women Gives The Game Away

Krys Malcolm Belc is the author of The Natural Mother of the Child: A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood (Counterpoint) and the flash nonfiction chapbook In Transit (The Cupboard Pamphlet). He is the memoir editor of Split Lip Magazine. Krys is the current Edelstein-Keller Writer-in-Residence at the University of Minnesota and lives in St. Paul with his partner and their four young children.

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Krys Malcolm Belc

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How Transmasc Parents Navigate Testosterone After Pregnancy

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<div>Davey Davis is the author of the novels the earthquake room and X. They write a weekly newsletter about art, culture, and sexuality at <a href="http://itsdavid.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://itsdavid.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687637345270000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2asJHAQI7qwTPU6pk62gjF">itsdavid.substack.com</a>. They live in Brooklyn.</div>
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Davey Davis

History of Transition_Davey-Davis

Doctors Vs. David

A rainbow Red Sox logo on the video board at Fenway Park

Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox

No Straights At Pride Night

Casey Plett is the author of A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, A Safe Girl to Love, the co-editor of Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy From Transgender Writers, and the Publisher at LittlePuss Press. She has written for The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, the Winnipeg Free Press, and other publications. A winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award, her work has also been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

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Casey Plett

History of Transition_1

How One Dumb Woman Got On HRT In 2010

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Laura Wagner

The New York Times 24-Hour Strike

Journalismism

A Roundtable On The Free Speech Implications Of The New York Times Trans Letter Debate

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Luis Paez-Pumar

NBC Sports analyst Tony Dungy speaks during a segment prior to the 2022 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Las Vegas Raiders at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on August 04, 2022 in Canton, Ohio.

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Media Meltdowns

Tony Dungy Believed The Whole “Litter Boxes In Schools” Hoax [Update]

New York City Economy

How Many Trans People Does The New York Times Believe There Should Be?

Airline passengers wait at a TSA checkpoint

US-HEALTH-VIRUS-MANDATE-MASKS

How To Avoid Getting Groped By TSA While Trans

A pedestrian walks on a bridge over a road

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On Bridges

Olympic rings combined with female gender symbol

women-rings

Biological Females Continue Reign Of Dominance At Winter Olympics

28th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party Sponsored By IMDb, Neuro Drinks And Walmart – Arrivals

Please Go Away, Cait

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) listens to a question at a Town Hall meeting on Super Tuesday Primary night on March 3, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan.

Tulsi Gabbard

The Only Noteworthy Thing About The Latest Anti-Trans Sports Bill Is How Shameless It Is

trans issues