A Perth-based transgender woman has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission after being prohibited from competing in her local softball competition.
Trudi Graveson says the Canning Softball Association barred her from playing in the 2025 winter women’s competition ahead of the opening round on May 3, citing safety reasons.
“I was really angry to be honest,” she says.
“I’ve been playing cricket for two years in a women’s league [and] I’ve been to national tournaments in a women’s league for cricket.”
Trudi Graveson
“The word I would use is close-minded.
“Hopefully it’ll get resolved soon.”
In emails between Ms Graveson and the CSA president, seen by the Western Independent, the CSA says the league’s 22 female teams were asked to vote on her participation via email.
The team that Ms Graveson was planning to play for was excluded from the vote.
“Most of our teams’ feedback came with concerns around risk and safety,” the email reads.
“Unfortunately the vote has been decided as a ‘no’…CSA will not be allowing you to take the diamond as a player.”
The CSA told Ms Graveson it previously used the voting process in a case involving a male transgender player, with the men’s teams voting in favour of letting the player compete.
Since transitioning in 2022, Ms Graveson has been playing cricket in the Perth Scorchers women’s league and represented WA in the ladies veterans league in Adelaide last year.
Cricket and softball are both classified as non-contact, bat-and-ball sports.
LGBTQIA+ organisation Proud2Play community development officer Kade Matthews says the decision goes against the ethos of Australian community sport.
“Community sport should be about bringing people together; yes, there might be competition, there might be a game, there might be a sport there, but mainly it’s about playing with people in our community,” he says.
“Something like 88 per cent of Australians believe sport is a space to connect, be social, and overcome things like social isolation.
“Whenever a club does go out on a limb like this and denies someone the right to play sport, we’re really going against the ethos of what Australian community sport is.”
In 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 0.9 per cent of Australians are transgender or gender diverse, but only a fraction of those compete in sport.
Proud2Play also reports 50 per cent of transgender Australians avoid playing sports they’re interested in, while 70 per cent of the LGBTQIA+ community avoid sport entirely.
“What it really boils down to is that sport and recreation and physical activity is actually a human right.”
Kade Matthews
“I think from the real top level, they’ve got to look at it [that] people have the right to participate and people have the right to express their gender in a safe and affirming way.
“There’s a lot of health disparities, financial disparities and social disparities that trans people face, and especially at a community sporting level, the [focus] that we should have is building community.”
For Ms Graveson, sport provided a valuable social outlet during a challenging time.
“When I first transitioned in 2022, for the first few months, I just kind of didn’t leave the house much,” she says.
“I didn’t have anyone that I could call a good friend because I lost a lot of friends when I transitioned.
“I decided to start looking for sports because I really enjoy sports [and] I’ve never been super good at them, but it was something that I loved.”
Ms Graveson will continue playing cricket this summer.
“I just want to [tell] everyone out there who feels like they don’t have a voice… that there are people out there who will talk for you and that everyone has a right to play sport, no matter what their identity is,” she says.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has told Ms Graveson it will investigate her complaint.
In a May 2 email seen by The Western Independent and sent prior to her submitting the AHRC complaint, the Canning Softball Association says its decision stands while it seeks legal advice.
In an earlier email, the CSA told Ms Graveson it is “all for inclusion”.
“At present we do not have anything in our by-laws that states anything for transgender players; only that male players can only play in the male comp and females can only play in the females comp,” the email reads.
The association did not respond to a request for comment.
The Western Independent has also contacted the WA Sport and Recreation Minister for comment.
