QUINN

General
NAME PREFERENCE
After coming out as transgender in September 2020, they are known as Quinn, and use the pronouns 'they/them'. "I wasn't taught throughout the course of my life what it meant to be trans, all the language around it. I think that's something that's new for a lot of people." (Twitter profile, 04 Jun 2021; bbc.co.uk, 23 Sep 2020)

COMING OUT
In September 2020 they chose to reveal that they are transgender in a post on social media. "I wanted to be my authentic self in all spheres of my life. And one of those is being in a public space, so that was one of the reasons behind it. I was tired of being misgendered and everything like that. When I was figuring out who I was, it was really scary and I didn't really understand if I had a future in football, if I had a future in life. As I've lived as an openly trans person with the people I love most for many years, I did always wonder when I'd come out publicly. I think being visible is huge and it's something that helped me when I was trying to figure out my identity. I wanted to pass that along and then hopefully other people will come out as well if they feel safe to do so and I can create a safer space for them. I think I'm just really proud of myself that I've been able to do this. I'm really happy that I'm living authentically in my life. I think it's really beautiful. I think the [2020] Olympics is a massive platform to have that visibility. It's also my hope that there are other people following in my footsteps and so I hope that it opens the door to other trans athletes being represented at the Olympics." (people.com, 10 Sep 2020; Instagram profile, 08 Sep 2020; cbc.ca, 23 Sep 2020; Twitter profile, 04 Jun 2021; bbc.co.uk, 23 Sep 2020)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
They served on the executive board of Duke University's campus chapter of US-based non-profit organisation Athlete Ally, which aims to end homophobia and transphobia in sport. They also helped organise Duke University football team's first 'Pride Game'. "If I can make an impact in the LGBTQ community, then I'm doing something greater with my time in sports. It's something that I think gives me value just beyond soccer within my athletic experience." (cbc.ca, 23 Sep 2020)

NB: please note that the gender category listed above only refers to the athlete's category of competition (female or male)