Ontario Implementing New Policy For Transgender Hockey Players

Beginning this season, transgender hockey players will be able to use the dressing room corresponding with their gender identity, under a new Hockey Canada policy taking effect this year.

The policy states, “players who identify as trans can use the dressing room corresponding to their gender identity, be addressed by their preferred name and pronoun, and have the privacy and confidentiality of their transgender status respected.”

The policy will also see Hockey Canada’s Ontario members educate more than 30,000 coaches and trainers on transgender inclusiveness by 2017.

This coming as a response to the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s decision regarding hockey player Jesse Thompson, a transgendered boy from Oshawa, Ontario. Thompson was denied access to the boys’ locker room during the 2012-2013 season. The action resulted in outing Thompson, and exposing him to bullying. A settlement based on his human rights complaint was reached in 2014.