The Hate Directed at the LGBTQ+

[a fan]

You have no self-awareness. The '90's commercials were mocking farces, not supportive

You wrote "They are mocking & condescending", and I replied "That's right".
...followed by :
Nice irony that the BIGGEST complaints from the fringe right are, 1. everyone gets offended by the dumbest things, and 2. cancel culture is bad

This is waaaaaay up there on the list of overreactions from fringe Americans.

Nice self-awareness.

Did you bump your head?
That does not sync with "That's right"
What are you talking about? How does that not sync?

1. The 90's commercials were the equivalent of blackface for LGBTQ. I agreed with your assessment, and wrote "that's right"

2. Then I wrote: Americans loved it. NO ONE complained, and the LBGTQ community didn't have a voice. They weren't ALLOWED to complain.

3. In another paragraph, I was making fun of YOU. YOUR PEEPS are the one's that started whining nonstop about everyone getting offended by every little thing. That's where the term "snowflakes" comes from.

4. So why the F are you losing your mind about this? You rip on me all the time for calling you out for not commenting about things like Americas spending problem. You tell me, rightly, that you can't comment on everything. The problem with that answer are the things you DO find time for tells everyone what your priorities are. So you avoid commenting on the FACT that DeSantis is a BigGovernment fake Conservative like Trump....yet managed to find the time for MULTIPLE posts on a stupid "social influencer"....who posted an endorsement that YOU NEVER SAW ON HIS PAGE. Your media feed is the one who told you about it. Wake up. THIS is why your party fails, OS. P8ssing away your time and energy on cultural stuff that you can't control.
Not drinking Bug Lite won't make the gays go away.

Yes -- Americans loved mocking men in drag, & still do. Your link called the pre-2016 ads "transphobic".

What part of "that's right" don't you get?
see above -- your incoherent, hostile response, which does not indicate agreement.
Perhaps it's your chopped up, disjointed, angry, snark. Try agreeing agreeably.
What? Why I "agree agreeably" when your describing what YOU believe is blackface? Particularly when you have told us that you and millions of Americans find the idea of men having sex offensive.

The 2016 commercials were supportive & meant to be taken seriously. They were not done for laughs.

Yes. And do you even remember them? No one does. That's the whole point. No one cared.
They bombed & were not aired enough to be seen or make an impression.
Grasping at straws. You mockingly asked me if they had run these ads before. And you have NO IDEA how often the ads were run.
But to the point here-----they NEVER ran ONE SINGLE TV ad with this social influencer, OS. It was ONLY on his page. So what happened? You and your fellow rightwing nutjobs showed it.....you can't make this up.....to TENS OF MILLIONS of people. That was YOU who did that. Wake the F up, and realize you're being manipulated. You're smarter than this.
Do you remember the 2020 ad, featuring two gay women? See any complaints about it on this forum. Nope. No one cared.
Did anyone even see it ? I don't recall seeing it before. Upon reviewing it now, I did not notice any LGBTQ+ messaging. How was I supposed to know they were gay ? The teaser did not air with the commercial. If I saw that commercial (Typical American ?), it left no impression with me.You can say the same thing about the social influencer. If no one said a word? You couldn't tell he was originally male. What's missing in the soccer ad----and I can't believe you don't get this-----is that YOU and YOUR TEAM didn't take it viral. You didn't whine. You didn't complain. The Earth kept spinning.

Do I have to draw you a picture? You and millions of Americans are allowing yourselves to get worked into a frenzy over a big fat bowl of nothing. And lining media 1%ers pockets who are THRILLED to have you as clickbait for their advertisers. Keep you angry. Keep you clicking. That's all this is.

Keep it up. The liberal elites are happy as clams to take your money.
What liberal elites are taking my money from this & how ?
Advertising. That's what makes social media go.

Ten minutes ago you were calling people who were offended by every little thing "snowflakes", and mocking cancel culture. You and your buds are losing your minds over an ad for a beer you don't even drink. And the ad wasn't even on TV. It was on some obscure YouTuber's page....a page you would NEVER visit.
You're confusing me with someone else. Offended ? I called no one a snowflake. Did not mention cancel culture.
Frenzy ? Losing my mind ? I'm having a good laugh over this nonsense. This forum has as search function, my man. Want me to waste your time and pull up all the times you used the word "snowflake" and "cancel culture"? Protip: I already looked. You have.

You're letting yourself be fooled by people that are making money off of you. Happens to all of us sometimes. But at some point, you can figure out that you're getting played, don't you think?
How am I getting played ? Who's making money off of me & how ?

You are the product, OS. How do you not understand this? Keep clicking. And how many times have I told you that your party keeps you focused on this stupid stuff so that you don't notice things like your next President is a BigGovernment fake conservative.

[youthathletics]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

[a fan]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

Figured that out didya?

He enjoys this as much as I do. If he didn't? He would have accepted my very kind offer to steer clear of him so he could enjoy the forum without me. I was afraid he took this stuff personally, and I have ZERO interest in people getting "real world" offended by anything I write. This place is a playpen. I take NONE of this stuff real world personal.

I'd buy Old Salt a dinner in a heartbeat. I'd loan him money if he asked. He's one of my favorite posters.

This is the WHOLE POINT of the forum------discussing current events with folks with different views. It gets heated sometimes. That's a GOOD thing if you ask me. I have offered everyone here the same rules: if you don't want sarcasm or for me to return fire? Don't do it yourself. But if you DO (metaphorically) shoot at me or other posters? Don't complain when I return fire. And if you ask me to tone it down, I do.

And you're right in line with him, my man. I enjoy our conversations.

[PizzaSnake]

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2023/ ... e-category

“research studies indicating that even with the suppression of testosterone, transgender women who transition post-puberty retain a performance advantage.”

This has been my take…. Also, any transgender athlete that competed at an competitive level as a male, should also face increased scrutiny depending on the sport. I don’t support one size fits all. Boys and girls compete in many sports through elementary school.

I find this interesting, you post the same article I do, seems to me as if we're pretty much in agreement here but you're anything but agreeable with me all along the way. Lia Thomas has no business competing against women in the swimming pool (and does not belong in their locker rooms) and Riley Gaines is 100% right in raising all kinds of hell about it. Leslie Mumford has no business competing with women cyclists, and those who wouldn't stand on the podium with the trans are 100% right in making a statement (something they don't have to worry about anymore because enough people have come to their senses and made a change). This is not difficult. Boys and girls competing in elementary school is hardly the same thing, actually not even in the same ballpark as a trans swimmer, cyclist, sprinter, etc competing against women. This is bullschidt and it has nothing to do with trans rights.

Actually, I found it amusing to observe some of the girls kicking some of the little boys aszes in the competitions I witnessed when my children were that age. Did engender some remarkable hostility and violence on occasion from the slighted lads. Might have been getting some messages from their big, manly fathers on the sidelines...

[Farfromgeneva]

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2023/ ... e-category

“research studies indicating that even with the suppression of testosterone, transgender women who transition post-puberty retain a performance advantage.”

This has been my take…. Also, any transgender athlete that competed at an competitive level as a male, should also face increased scrutiny depending on the sport. I don’t support one size fits all. Boys and girls compete in many sports through elementary school.

I find this interesting, you post the same article I do, seems to me as if we're pretty much in agreement here but you're anything but agreeable with me all along the way. Lia Thomas has no business competing against women in the swimming pool (and does not belong in their locker rooms) and Riley Gaines is 100% right in raising all kinds of hell about it. Leslie Mumford has no business competing with women cyclists, and those who wouldn't stand on the podium with the trans are 100% right in making a statement (something they don't have to worry about anymore because enough people have come to their senses and made a change). This is not difficult. Boys and girls competing in elementary school is hardly the same thing, actually not even in the same ballpark as a trans swimmer, cyclist, sprinter, etc competing against women. This is bullschidt and it has nothing to do with trans rights.

Actually, I found it amusing to observe some of the girls kicking some of the little boys aszes in the competitions I witnessed when my children were that age. Did engender some remarkable hostility and violence on occasion from the slighted lads. Might have been getting some messages from their big, manly fathers on the sidelines...

As someone maybe TLD noted recently it’s about bettering oneself. Especially youth. Am I doing things that improve my life vs how it was yesterday? Am I creating more opportunities for myself by doing things the best way for me subject to the implicitly agreed upon rules in the society I enjoy common benefit from etc. Viewing success by comparing to others or dragging others down, restricting opportunities or reducing competition is a disservice to that person.

[Typical Lax Dad]

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2023/ ... e-category

“research studies indicating that even with the suppression of testosterone, transgender women who transition post-puberty retain a performance advantage.”

This has been my take…. Also, any transgender athlete that competed at an competitive level as a male, should also face increased scrutiny depending on the sport. I don’t support one size fits all. Boys and girls compete in many sports through elementary school.

I find this interesting, you post the same article I do, seems to me as if we're pretty much in agreement here but you're anything but agreeable with me all along the way. Lia Thomas has no business competing against women in the swimming pool (and does not belong in their locker rooms) and Riley Gaines is 100% right in raising all kinds of hell about it. Leslie Mumford has no business competing with women cyclists, and those who wouldn't stand on the podium with the trans are 100% right in making a statement (something they don't have to worry about anymore because enough people have come to their senses and made a change). This is not difficult. Boys and girls competing in elementary school is hardly the same thing, actually not even in the same ballpark as a trans swimmer, cyclist, sprinter, etc competing against women. This is bullschidt and it has nothing to do with trans rights.

Actually, I found it amusing to observe some of the girls kicking some of the little boys aszes in the competitions I witnessed when my children were that age. Did engender some remarkable hostility and violence on occasion from the slighted lads. Might have been getting some messages from their big, manly fathers on the sidelines...

As someone maybe TLD noted recently it’s about bettering oneself. Especially youth. Am I doing things that improve my life vs how it was yesterday? Am I creating more opportunities for myself by doing things the best way for me subject to the implicitly agreed upon rules in the society I enjoy common benefit from etc. Viewing success by comparing to others or dragging others down, restricting opportunities or reducing competition is a disservice to that person.

You never hear complaints when transgender athletes win. Buddy told me Lia Thomas won the NCAAs because the elite females were competing because they were cycling for the Olympics. He said Thomas’ times were that great. He swam and played water polo in college at a high level. You didn’t hear about Lia Thomas losing at the various other distances and had she not been competitive at the longer distance, you would not have heard about it. It’s incredibly stupid. Again I don’t believe a male college athlete should switch and compete against females but the amount of coverage was astounding. You never heard about the losses. Only the event she was winning.

https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports ... 20321.html

[DMac]

You guys are too much. You skirt around the issue with all kinds of niceties with kumbaya background music while ignoring the issue altogether. How many races Lia won or lost isn't the issue at all, you can find the issue in the UK's decision to no longer allow trans bikers to compete in women's races. You bet girls can compete with boys, and many can kick the boys' asses at younger ages. The difference in physical maturity takes over in the end though and men have a distinct advantage over women at that point. Pretty sure that's a big part of the reason we have mlaxers and wlaxers playing lacrosse on different teams and never against one another (although there are many wlaxers who might well be able to kick the boys aszes and leave them with their tongues dragging). This really isn't complicated.

Okay, went to the watering hole to watch the ND-Va game and have my report....does it get any better than two OT games in the semis?? I remembered to ask Nikki how the Bud Light sales were going. She laughed. Said they had ordered two cases and have plenty left. Typically a big seller but nobody's ordering it now. She said there are those who want no AB products at all....also said, little do they know they're drinking one. She finds the whole thing humorous and pretty ridiculous. Gotta get the dog back in the ads. We'll see how long it lasts but it's pretty fun right now.

[a fan]

Okay, went to the watering hole to watch the ND-Va game and have my report....does it get any better than two OT games in the semis??

No! It was a great day! Caught big swaths of both games while at the shop. Busy day!

[Typical Lax Dad]

You guys are too much. You skirt around the issue with all kinds of niceties with kumbaya background music while ignoring the issue altogether. How many races Lia won or lost isn't the issue at all, you can find the issue in the UK's decision to no longer allow trans bikers to compete in women's races. You bet girls can compete with boys, and many can kick the boys' asses at younger ages. The difference in physical maturity takes over in the end though and men have a distinct advantage over women at that point. Pretty sure that's a big part of the reason we have mlaxers and wlaxers playing lacrosse on different teams and never against one another (although there are many wlaxers who might well be able to kick the boys aszes and leave them with their tongues dragging). This really isn't complicated.

Okay, went to the watering hole to watch the ND-Va game and have my report....does it get any better than two OT games in the semis?? I remembered to ask Nikki how the Bud Light sales were going. She laughed. Said they had ordered two cases and have plenty left. Typically a big seller but nobody's ordering it now. She said there are those who want no AB products at all....also said, little do they know they're drinking one. She finds the whole thing humorous and pretty ridiculous. Gotta get the dog back in the ads. We'll see how long it lasts but it's pretty fun right now.

Why were you not complaining about this 5 years ago? Why were the women olympians not allowed to compete recently? It’s really not complicated.

[Farfromgeneva]

The voice of distress and reason here

https://youtu.be/AXYGu797vUU

[old salt]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

I don't find it enjoyable at all. It's repetitive, tedious & a waste of time.
Agree to disagree in advance. Don't troll or hector each other.
The sex would have to be really great to put up with nagging like this in a relationship.

[Typical Lax Dad]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

I don't find it enjoyable at all. It's repetitive, tedious & a waste of time.
Agree to disagree in advance. Don't troll or hector each other.
The sex would have to be really great to put up with nagging like this in a relationship.

you can control this.

[Typical Lax Dad]

In 2017, Mack Beggs, a teenager from Texas, was required to wrestle against girls throughout the season of his transition from female to male up through the state championship, despite wanting to wrestle against boys. This was due to state sport regulations requiring athletes to compete alongside athletes of their assigned sex. Some opponents say the testosterone prescribed as part of his transition gives him an unfair advantage and made it unsafe for the other wrestlers. (He finished the regular season at 52–0 and won the state championship.)

This is what DMAC wants to see. Not that complicated. A gal should juice up like a male and then rassle other gals. Just pull her pants down and look. All good.

[a fan]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

I don't find it enjoyable at all. It's repetitive, tedious & a waste of time.
Agree to disagree in advance. Don't troll or hector each other.

Sigh. Then why engage me? Leave me alone. I gave you that option, politely. What did you do? You immediately started trolling my posts.

How do you think someone would interpret that? Take a wild guess. I ignored the first few...and then returned fire. And as always, you complain when anyone does that.

You post at me to get me to engage. And then get upset when you're wrong.....THAT is when we go round and round. You just can't conceded even the tiniest, STUPID points like: Biden can't make either Putin or Zelesky do what he wants. You can't just say: "Yeah, that's a fair point" like someone who is polite to someone else, and is HONESTLY trying to have a conversation.,

Riddle me this? When was the last time you did that? Conceded even a tiny point I've made. And when you can't freaking remember? Maybe consider that YOU are the reason we go in circles.


This time? You tried to tell me this is the first time that Bud or breweries marketed to the LBGTQ community...and THAT is why there is such a reaction.

As usual, you're dead wrong, and I show you direct TV Ads targeted for LGBTQ market. What do you do? Do you say? "Oh, ok. That's a fair point, and I didn't know that".....and move the F on?

Of COURSE not! Why would Old Salt tell anyone here that he was wrong? You think your weenie will fall off if you do that. So out come the excuses and dumb*ssery, and THAT is what makes us do around and round.

We go round and round EVERY TIME because you're too petty to admit you're freaking wrong, and you won't let it go.

[Typical Lax Dad]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

I don't find it enjoyable at all. It's repetitive, tedious & a waste of time.
Agree to disagree in advance. Don't troll or hector each other.

Sigh. Then why engage me? Leave me alone. I gave you that option, politely. What did you do? You immediately started trolling my posts.

How do you think someone would interpret that? Take a wild guess. I ignored the first few...and then returned fire. And as always, you complain when anyone does that.

You post at me to get me to engage. And then get upset when you're wrong.....THAT is when we go round and round. You just can't conceded even the tiniest, STUPID points like: Biden can't make either Putin or Zelesky do what he wants. You can't just say: "Yeah, that's a fair point" like someone who is polite to someone else, and is HONESTLY trying to have a conversation.,

Riddle me this? When was the last time you did that? Conceded even a tiny point I've made. And when you can't freaking remember? Maybe consider that YOU are the reason we go in circles.


This time? You tried to tell me this is the first time that Bud or breweries marketed to the LBGTQ community...and THAT is why there is such a reaction.

As usual, you're dead wrong, and I show you direct TV Ads targeted for LGBTQ market. What do you do? Do you say? "Oh, ok. That's a fair point, and I didn't know that".....and move the F on?

Of COURSE not! Why would Old Salt tell anyone here that he was wrong? You think your weenie will fall off if you do that. So out come the excuses and dumb*ssery, and THAT is what makes us do around and round.

We go round and round EVERY TIME because you're too petty to admit you're freaking wrong, and you won't let it go.

Nothing wrong with being wrong is my motto…..a person that can’t admit to being wrong can’t be trusted.

[old salt]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

I don't find it enjoyable at all. It's repetitive, tedious & a waste of time.
Agree to disagree in advance. Don't troll or hector each other.

Sigh. Then why engage me? Leave me alone. I gave you that option, politely. What did you do? You immediately started trolling my posts.

How do you think someone would interpret that? Take a wild guess. I ignored the first few...and then returned fire. And as always, you complain when anyone does that.

You post at me to get me to engage. And then get upset when you're wrong.....THAT is when we go round and round. You just can't conceded even the tiniest, STUPID points like: Biden can't make either Putin or Zelesky do what he wants. You can't just say: "Yeah, that's a fair point" like someone who is polite to someone else, and is HONESTLY trying to have a conversation.,

Riddle me this? When was the last time you did that? Conceded even a tiny point I've made. And when you can't freaking remember? Maybe consider that YOU are the reason we go in circles.

This time? You tried to tell me this is the first time that Bud or breweries marketed to the LBGTQ community...and THAT is why there is such a reaction.

As usual, you're dead wrong, and I show you direct TV Ads targeted for LGBTQ market. What do you do? Do you say? "Oh, ok. That's a fair point, and I didn't know that".....and move the F on?

Of COURSE not! Why would Old Salt tell anyone here that he was wrong? You think your weenie will fall off if you do that. So out come the excuses and dumb*ssery, and THAT is what makes us do around and round.

We go round and round EVERY TIME because you're too petty to admit you're freaking wrong, and you won't let it go.

I only engage when you quote me (notification) or call me out by name in one of your posts.

FTR -- I called no one a snowflake in this current discussion.

This time? You tried to tell me this is the first time that Bud or breweries marketed to the LBGTQ community
I made no such claim. But since you asked, the difference now is the power of social media.
A-B hired Dylan because he's an "influencer", more so than the earlier commercials made for tv.

https://www.google.com/search?q=edith+b ... 8EKndHBy7U

[Typical Lax Dad]

the two of you.... https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/c ... ther-more/

I don't find it enjoyable at all. It's repetitive, tedious & a waste of time.
Agree to disagree in advance. Don't troll or hector each other.

Sigh. Then why engage me? Leave me alone. I gave you that option, politely. What did you do? You immediately started trolling my posts.

How do you think someone would interpret that? Take a wild guess. I ignored the first few...and then returned fire. And as always, you complain when anyone does that.

You post at me to get me to engage. And then get upset when you're wrong.....THAT is when we go round and round. You just can't conceded even the tiniest, STUPID points like: Biden can't make either Putin or Zelesky do what he wants. You can't just say: "Yeah, that's a fair point" like someone who is polite to someone else, and is HONESTLY trying to have a conversation.,

Riddle me this? When was the last time you did that? Conceded even a tiny point I've made. And when you can't freaking remember? Maybe consider that YOU are the reason we go in circles.


This time? You tried to tell me this is the first time that Bud or breweries marketed to the LBGTQ community...and THAT is why there is such a reaction.

As usual, you're dead wrong, and I show you direct TV Ads targeted for LGBTQ market. What do you do? Do you say? "Oh, ok. That's a fair point, and I didn't know that".....and move the F on?

Of COURSE not! Why would Old Salt tell anyone here that he was wrong? You think your weenie will fall off if you do that. So out come the excuses and dumb*ssery, and THAT is what makes us do around and round.

We go round and round EVERY TIME because you're too petty to admit you're freaking wrong, and you won't let it go.

Nothing wrong with being wrong is my motto…..a person that can’t admit to being wrong can’t be trusted.

I only engage when you quote me (notification) or call me out in one of your posts.

This time? You tried to tell me this is the first time that Bud or breweries marketed to the LBGTQ community
I made no such claim.

https://www.google.com/search?q=edith+b ... 8EKndHBy7U

Stop whining about your time being wasted then...

[Typical Lax Dad]

http://transascity.org/cross-training-t ... thletes-3/

María José Martínez-Patiño was born and raised as a woman, and for all appearances she was a woman with proper female genitalia. In 1983 she took and passed a Barr Body test, and was certified for competition in women’s events in the World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland. In 1985 she went to the World University Games in Kobe, Japan, where she discovered that she had forgotten her gender certificate, and was forced to take a new exam. However, this exam found a problem – she appeared to not have two X chromosomes, and was forced to undergo a detailed karyotype test. Since the results of this test would not be ready for months, she was browbeaten into faking an injury, and dropped out of the competition. (Martínez-Patiño, Adair, Buzuvis)

https://www.genome.gov/27557513/the-y-c ... hromosomes)

Simple.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Crazy talk!!

[Typical Lax Dad]

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/de ... nt-as-ever

Throughout Women's History Month, TENNIS.com will be highlighting some of the most significant achievements and moments that make our sport what it is today.

As Renée Richards walked through the winding, Tudor-lined lanes of Forest Hills, people from the neighborhood gathered around her to wish her luck. After seeing the ophthalmologist’s picture in the newspapers for months, the locals of Queens knew where she was going—the West Side Tennis Club—and the magnitude of what she was about to do.

It was August 1977, the closing weeks of the notorious Summer of Sam in New York City. Over three harrowing months, the crumbling metropolis had been rocked by terrorizing riots, a chaotic blackout and the frantic search for a serial killer. As autumn mercifully approached, though, tennis became the talk of the town, and Richards was, for the moment, the world’s most talked-about athlete.

In 1953, Richards had entered the men’s draw at the U.S. Nationals under the name Richard Raskind. Twenty-four years later—and two years after having sexual-reassignment surgery and changing her name—Renée was on her way to play her first match as a woman at the same event, now known as the US Open. To make it there, she had weathered a chromosome test, boycotts by her fellow players, the scrutiny of the media, a ban by the sport’s officials and a lawsuit to overturn that ban.

But Forest Hills wasn’t just the home of the Open; it was also Richards’ home. These tree-lined lanes were where young Richard had grown up, where he had learned to play tennis—and where he discovered as a child that he had a second, female self inside him, fighting to get out.

“People crowded ’round,” Richards recalled of her walk to West Side that day, “wishing me well on the same streets where I had skulked 30 years before, wearing my sister’s clothes.”

Now, at 43, she felt free.

“There was tennis to be played,” Richards said. “My heart lightened at the prospect. I was about to do the thing that had saved me so many times before—and on the greatest stage in the world, I would do it as Renée.”

Richards’ walk through the gates at West Side was the culmination of a 12-month whirlwind that had upended her life and her sport, and left her playing, as she put it, “tennis in a fishbowl.”

She had taken the plunge into that fishbowl in August 1976, when she entered her first pro tournament as a woman at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in New Jersey. There had never been a debut quite like it. The Rolls Royce that took her to the grounds before her opening match was greeted by dozens of fans, autograph seekers and celebrity hounds. As the car approached the clubhouse, the mob surged toward it. Inside, Richards sank down in her seat. Was this private person ready for the public life that awaited her?

Just one year before, Dr. Richard Raskind, an accomplished athlete who had captained the men’s team at Yale two decades earlier, had undergone sexual-reassignment surgery. Soon after, as Dr. Renée Richards, she moved from New York to Newport Beach, CA, to start a new life. But there was one thing she couldn’t leave behind: her conspicuous skill at tennis.

After impressing the members at her new club, Richards agreed to enter a tournament in nearby La Jolla. A woman in the audience made the connection between the tall lefty who was mowing down the competition, and a story she heard about a tennis-playing doctor who moved west after having a sex change.

When a TV station subsequently—and erroneously—ran a report that Richards was a man masquerading as a woman, she became front-page news. Richards set the record straight at a press conference. The attention died down, and the paparazzi moved on. But one set of reports continued to irk her.

“Officials in the governing bodies of tennis,” Richards wrote in an autobiography, Second Serve, “were quoted as saying that I would not be allowed to participate in major championships for women because of my past as Richard Raskind.”

Richards had never been an activist, but after her story broke she received an avalanche of mail, many from minority communities, urging her to play. “The whole world seemed to be looking for me to be their Joan of Arc,” she said.

After some prodding, Richards decided to take on the role. She wanted “to prove that transsexuals as well as other persons fighting social stigmas can hold their heads up high.”

Among the letters Richards received was one from an old friend, Gene Scott. The former pro was angry at how Richards was being treated, so he invited her to enter the tournament he ran in New Jersey. When she accepted, 23 female players boycotted.

At the Orange Lawn Tennis Club that August, Scott was there to help Richards out of the Rolls Royce and through the crowd of gawkers. The clubhouse offered a respite from the masses, but she wasn’t free of the press. To get to her practice court, Richards slipped out a back window and down a fire escape.

By the time her match began, she was punch-drunk and exhausted. “Don’t fall down, Renée,” was all she could think.

Knowing that Howard Cosell was calling the match for a national television audience didn’t help. The only thing that did was the fact that her opponent, Kathy Beene, was even more nervous. Beene double-faulted 11 times, and Richards won in just 47 minutes.

Richards was front-page news again, though sportswriters didn’t know what to make of this new brand of athlete.

“At first, it seemed like a put-on,” Sports Illustrated wrote. “A transsexual tennis player? A 6'2" former football end in frilly panties and gold hoop earrings pounding serves past defenseless girls?”

UPI, in its report on her first-round match, described Richards as a “tall and attractive 42-year-old ophthalmologist.”

Later that night in Manhattan, Richards took pride in what she had accomplished when she saw the next day’s Daily News. As her fellow New Yorkers leaned out of cab windows to shout their encouragement, she read a headline that could have been written for Jimmy Connors or Joe Namath: RENEE ROLLS IN NEW JERSEY OPENER

Richards’ victory took her to a dizzying new place in her public life, but it also brought her back home. The night before her match against Beene, she paid a surprise visit to her father, David, at the family’s house in Forest Hills. She was relieved when he greeted her as if nothing had changed. A few days later, David Raskind paid a surprise visit of his own when he showed up at Orange Lawn for Renée’s third match.

Tennis had been at the heart of their relationship. Years before, they had bonded during hitting sessions at the Sunrise Club in Queens, as both tried to escape the stressful intensity of life at home. There, young Richard was dominated by his mother and his older sister, who dressed him as a girl. By 9, he had begun to dress himself that way.

As a teen, Richard came across Man Into Woman, the autobiography of Lili Elbe, a transgender who was portrayed by Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. Elbe’s story rang true for Raskind. From his teens through his 30s, his psyche was the site of a prolonged battle between his outer male self, and an inner female persona who was constantly fighting to get the upper hand.

“During this period,” Richards said, “I probably would not have survived without tennis. Athletics was the one constant in an otherwise uncertain world.”

On the surface, Richard Raskind was a success. He excelled at sports, graduated from Yale, became a surgeon, married and had a son, Nick. Underneath, though, he felt that he might “go mad” if he “continued masquerading as Dick.” At 40, Raskind underwent the three-and-half-hour procedure that set Renée free for good.