Kye Allums (born October 23, 1989) is a former college basketball player for the George Washington University women's team who in 2010 came out as a trans man, becoming the first openly transgender NCAA Division I college athlete.[1][2][3][4] Allums is a transgender advocate, public speaker, artist, and mentor to LGBT youth.

Kye Allums
Personal information
BornOctober 23, 1989 (1989-10-23) (age 35)
NationalityAmerican
Career information
High schoolCentennial High School
CollegeGeorge Washington

Personal life

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Allums graduated from Centennial High School in Circle Pines, Minnesota, United States. He played three seasons as a guard on the women's basketball team at George Washington University, the George Washington Colonials.[5] Allums's teammates called him "Kay-Kay".[2] Allums began telling people to call him "Kye".[6] He came out as a trans man in 2010.[7] He told sports website Outsports, "my biological sex is female, which makes me a transgender male."[2]

In May 2011, GWU announced that Allums had decided to leave the GWU basketball team.[8] He graduated from George Washington University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts.[9]

In 2014, in an interview with ESPN, Allums said that he had attempted suicide.[10]

George Washington statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year[11] Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008-09 George Washington 11 35 28.6 18.8 38.1 2.2 1.3 0.2 0.1 3.2
2009-10 George Washington 26 193 37.8 37.1 75.0 4.6 1.1 0.8 0.2 7.4
2010-11 George Washington 8 54 47.4 30.0 63.2 3.4 0.6 0.6 0.3 6.8
Career George Washington 45 282 37.7 32.7 62.5 3.8 1.0 0.6 0.2 6.3

Advocacy

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Allums began traveling around the country to talk about life as a transgender person.[7] He visits high schools, colleges and universities to discuss the transgender community and how it is possible to be transgender and play on a team.[12] He gives advice on confronting bullies when being trans.[13]

He starred in Laverne Cox's documentary The T Word.[7] The film follows young transgender individuals and explains what they go through.[14]

Allums produced a project called "I Am Enough", which encourages other LGBTQ individuals to come out and talk about their experiences.[15] The project allows individuals to submit their stories, thereby showing people who share the same issues that they are not alone.[16]

In 2015, he was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.[17]

Published work

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Allums published a book called Who Am I?, which features poems and letters he wrote about his parents and himself.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "First transgender athlete to play in NCAA basketball". CNN. March 23, 2010. Archived from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Brady, Erik (November 4, 2010). "Transgender male Kye Allums on the women's team at GW". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  3. ^ "LGBT History Month: Kye Allums, first openly transgender NCAA athlete". October 2011. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  4. ^ "21 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture". Time Magazine. May 29, 2014. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  5. ^ "Kye Allums". Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  6. ^ Moore, Elliott (February 19, 2013). "Kye Allums Discusses His Personal History as a Transgender Athlete". www.glaad.org. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  7. ^ a b c Steinmetz, Katy (October 28, 2014). "Meet The First Openly Transgender NCAA Division I Athlete". Time. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  8. ^ "Kye Allums Leaving Basketball". May 19, 2011. Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  9. ^ Allums, Kye. "About". kyeallums.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  10. ^ Nichols, JamesMichael (January 21, 2014). "Kye Allums, Trans Sports Star, Reveals He Wanted To Kill Himself After ESPN Profile". HuffPost. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  11. ^ "NCAA® Career Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  12. ^ Allums, Kye. "Booking". Kyeallums.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  13. ^ Moore, Elliott (February 19, 2013). "Kye Allums Discusses his Personal History as a Transgender Athlete". GLAAD. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  14. ^ Laverne Cox (host). "Laverne Cox Presents: 'The T word'" (Full Documentary).
  15. ^ Allums, Kye. "Who am I?". kyeallums.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  16. ^ Mase III, J (December 17, 2013). "Are You Enough? Kye Allums Thinks So". HuffPost. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  17. ^ Jim Buzinski (July 27, 2015). "9 inducted into National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame". Outsports. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  18. ^ Allums, Kye. "Who Am I?". www.amazon.com. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
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