USA TODAY Sports profiled Mission College athlete Gabrielle Ludwig, who is transgender and plays on her school's women's basketball team in California. Though the artiicle falls into some familiar tropes of transgender media representation - focusing intensely on Gabrielle's past, using pronouns that she does not go by, and giving attention to the offensive comments of some local college sports fans - it also highlights the overwhelming support that Gabrielle has recieved from her family members, her coach and her teammates.
Mission College athletic director Mike Perez, who worked with the California Community College Athletic Association to ensure that Gabrielle could play on the team, said, "This is a student-athlete who is really opening up to what is going on in her life. What we can do is support her, as I would any student-athlete…" Gabrielle's teammate, Felicia Anderson, expressed support for her as a fellow player on their team, saying, "We've been discriminated against for different reasons. We're used to it. So to have someone come with us, you're discriminated against too. You are a part of our family as well. It's the common bond."
Speaking about herself as a transgender athlete, Gabrielle said, "People are afraid of what they don't know. I am willing to put myself out there. It was not like that before. It was just about playing basketball. It's about more because I see an injustice."