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Lexi Rodgers reveals she is the trans player trying to join the NBL1 women's competition


Lexi Rodgers says she hopes revealing her name and face will remind people there is a real person at the centre of the debate.(Instagram: Lexi Rodgers)

Lexi Rodgers has revealed she is the trans woman hoping to play in the NBL1 competition.

Key points:


Basketball Australia has convened a panel to discuss Rodgers's application to play in the NBL1 women's competition

Rodgers says she made her name public so people would see the "trans player" being mentioned as a person, not an amorphous entity

Former NBA champion Andrew Bogut has been vocally against Rodgers's place in the league

Rodgers went on the Under The Surface podcast with former WNBL MVP Anneli Maley to speak about her experience since it was revealed there was a trans player in the women's semi-professional basketball league, sparking debate online and in board rooms.

"I am Lexi Rodgers, I'm not non-existent," she said.

She said she wanted to show people who she was so they would stop making assumptions and creating an image in their minds of what a trans player looks like.

"I think it's good to have a bit of a voice now," she said.

"Because when it's this hypothetical person and people are making a picture of what a transgender athlete looks like in their head; one, I don't think it's me; and two, I think it's a bit harsh, and people just forget that there's actually a person.

Rodgers said she was "still the same person" she was before she transitioned, "just in a different wrapping".

Basketball Australia has set up a panel to discuss her application to play in the upcoming NBL1 South season for Kilsyth Cobras, starting on April 1.

Rodgers told Maley she thought transitioning would mean she would have to give up on playing basketball, but was elated at getting the opportunity to return to her "first love".

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"I'll always love it," she said.

"When I transitioned it went through my head, 'if you do this then you're not gonna be playing sport', and that was tough, but that was the decision I made in my head.

"Every time I'm on the basketball court, every time I'm with the girls, every time I've got anything going to do with playing basketball, it's just a gift.

"I never thought I'd be here. I never thought I'd be playing basketball again."
Rodgers thanked people for the "overwhelming support" she has received so far, but not all the discussion has been supportive.

Former NBA champion Andrew Bogut has been particularly outspoken in his criticism of Rodgers's inclusion in the women's competition and the manner in which the league handled consultation with other teams.

Maley had agreed to go on Bogut's podcast to discuss the issue before cancelling, saying she had been made to feel unsafe after receiving threats on social media from Bogut's followers and even said people turned up at her house.

"You have no idea what it's like to be a woman getting physical threats form [sic] grown men," she wrote.

"I don't need to justify my experiences to you or any man that questions my experience."

Bogut said Maley was "playing the victim" and hosted former federal Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves, who founded a lobby group aimed at keeping trans women out of female sports.