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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Kye Allums to appear on ‘Anderson’

Kye Allums
Kye Allums was the first openly transgender player to play Division I college basketball. | File Photo

Former women’s basketball player Kye Allums will appear on Anderson Cooper’s talk show “Anderson” tomorrow as part of an episode that discusses children and teenagers who identify as transgender.

Allums made headlines last year as the first transgender athlete in Division I sports, first openly identifying himself as transgender in Out Magazine in November 2010. He was able to maintain a spot on GW’s roster by agreeing to hold off on any gender reassignment surgery or hormone therapy until April 2012, by which time he would have completed his eligibility as a student-athlete.

His announcement thrust Allums into the spotlight as a symbol of the transgender community. In February, the University’s Office of Media Relations came under scrutiny, when Rolanda Delamartinez, Allums’ mother, said that the University stifled media opportunities for her son and rejected media requests in an effort to bury the story, allegations the University denied.

The departure of the shooting guard from the program was announced in May. At the time, athletics communications spokesperson Jesse Hooker said Allums would still enroll at the University for the fall semester, but declined to comment when asked if GW would continue to honor Allums’ athletics scholarship in light of his departure from the team.

“Kye has informed the athletic department that, after careful consideration, he has decided that it is in his best interest to no longer participate in intercollegiate athletics,” a University statement read. “We respect his wishes, and he has our continued support.”

“Anderson” airs tomorrow, Nov. 16, on ABC7 at 4 p.m.

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