'Heated Rivalry' Actor Blasts USA Hockey Over 'Crazy' New Transgender Eligibility Policy

Harrison Browne — an actor in Heated Rivalry and the first openly transgender professional hockey player — is speaking out against USA Hockey's new Participant Eligibility Policy, calling it "crazy" and accusing the organization of shutting transgender athletes out of the sport.

USA Hockey approved the policy in November, though it largely flew under the radar at the time. Enforcement is set to begin April 1, and it officially replaces the organization's 2019 transgender eligibility rules across all USA Hockey–sanctioned programs.

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Under the updated guidelines, most USA Hockey programs remain open and co-ed. Youth hockey, junior hockey, disabled hockey programs and adult "open" or co-ed leagues all remain available. In those settings, athletes are eligible "without regard to their sex, gender identity, transgender, non-binary or other status or forms of gender expression."

Where the policy draws a line is in programs restricted by sex.

Under the new rules, participation in sex-restricted leagues is based on biological sex, with one key caveat: "a female (as assigned at birth) may not play in programs restricted to females if they have undergone any male hormone therapy."

Harrison Browne Blames Trump, Calls New Policy ‘Crazy’

Browne, an Ontario native who played professionally in the NWHL before transitioning, took to social media to trash the new policy.

"USA Hockey is basically telling me I can't play in a recreational league with friends that I played my entire career with," Browne said. "I just think that's crazy."

Browne also objected to how the policy affects sex-restricted leagues, arguing that requiring female athletes who take hormones to play in men's leagues raises safety concerns.

"The safest spaces I've found are queer spaces, are women's spaces," Browne said, explaining that forcing trans athletes to play in men's leagues wouldn't be safe because they are still plagued by "homophobia and transphobic language, whether that's on the ice or behind closed doors in the locker room."

Hold on. 

It is not women's job to serve as a "safe space" for gender-confused men. Or gender-confused women on heavy doses of testosterone, for that matter.

Women's hockey exists because of sex-based differences in size, strength and speed. Female-only leagues were not created as emotional safe havens. They were created to ensure fair competition and safety in a full-contact sport. Asking women to absorb additional competitive or physical risk in order to accommodate others shifts the burden onto female athletes who have done nothing wrong.

USA Hockey's policy isn't shutting anyone out. Transgender athletes remain eligible in co-ed and open leagues, which make up the vast majority of USA Hockey programs. Browne — like any other athlete — is free to compete in those spaces. What the policy draws is a firm line around is sex-restricted competition.

And it's worth noting that USA Hockey is just the latest in a growing number of national and international sports governing bodies that have adopted similar policies.

U.S. President Donald Trump joined by women athletes signs the "No Men in Women’s Sports" executive order in the East Room at the White House.

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Browne blames political pressure and President Donald Trump for the shift.

"We can't overlook the fact that the [Trump] Administration is putting a lot of pressure on sports organizations to make a stance against trans participation in sports," Browne said.

But regardless of the political framing, this is pretty straightforward.

Women's sports are a protected category — not a catch-all or a safety net for whoever wants access.