Lucy Clarke become association football's first transgender referee - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.indy100.com/article/football-first-ever-trans-referee-lucy-clark-8498386 Lucy Clarke is football's first transgender referee, and she's set to take part in her first match. The 46-year-old, who was known as 'Nick' by the football world for years, will be officiating a semi-professional women's football match, and she is worried about the way fans will react. She told the Sunday Mirror: I hope the world accepts me for the person I am. I can appreciate people will be a bit shocked when I run on to the pitch, but I'm the same person. I just look a bit different. It'll be nice not to live in two different worlds and to be me. Lucy is married with children, and says she's 'kept this secret hidden away' for most of her life. She doesn't want to do that anymore. Avril, wife and mother to her children, is supportive of both her career and her decision. She tells the Sunday Mirror that the Football Association was supportive of her decision to transition. They said they 'fully support Lucy and anyone else who wants to participate in football in their preferred gender'. Football's traditionally hyper-masculine background is a source of worry, and she admits that she's 'a bit concerned' about how the industry, the fans and the sportsmen and women, will react to the change: I'm preparing myself for the derogatory comments. I don't want to lose my control and I don't want to be putting complaints into clubs about the behaviour of their fans. 'I'm a bit concerned. If I've suddenly got 200 people shouting stuff about me I don't know how I'll react,' she added. She also spoke about the struggles of living as a man. 'No one chooses to be transgender,' she said. I took tablets and drank alcohol. I ended yp having my stomach pumped. A ridiculously high percentage of transgender people attempt suicide. How many succeeded, we don't know. Though there were challenges getting to where she is, Lucy is determined to officiate the women's matches. I am looking to the future and want to progress as a referee...when I blow that whistle, I can finally be myself. I've waited a lifetime for that.

Then she isn't ready for the pitch, it can be a horrible racist place on the best of days, I doubt it's general acceptance to Transgenderism.

Except it shouldn't be up to her to be "ready for the pitch." I get that we're not talking an ideal world where blame and responsibility is put where it's supposed to be, but the first thought definitely shouldn't be "if you're worried about transphobia, then maybe you aren't ready for it." Your wording here implies that she has something to work on, instead of the bigots. She's just trying to do her job, and it shouldn't ever be implied that she shouldn't be doing that. She's aware of what could be in store for her, but no one should be saying to her "yeah, because you're trans, you need to toughen up even more first, you're going to need it."

My wording does indeed imply she has something to work on. Referees get torn to pieces for a multitude of reasons in Football, if they run camply or are small they get unending amounts of shit from both the players and fans when making decisions, some of the best footballers in the world still get banana's thrown at them if they are black, right there on the pitch. If she doesn't go out there with a thick skin, and more importantly, aware of how she is going to react to criticism, then she could be headed for a mental breakdown real quick, not to mention the hormone therapy will be throwing her emotional game off for quite some time. I'm saying it's in her best interest that she doesn't go into the rain before she knows she can get wet. It's all up to her.

Heckling can be very degrading no matter who you are... If you're intolerant to any of them you shouldn't be a ref, doesn't matter who you are.

Having officiated American highschool football before I can say that the fans will be ruthless and insult you over ANYTHING. Honestly it's worse the younger the players are; I picked up some trash off the field between a play once and some parent shouted "C'mon ref! you can see that but you can see all of that holding?!" I was just thinking to myself -- these kids are like, 10, they barely understand the concept of holding penalties to begin with. I'm just here to call a fair game so the kids can have fun. Fortunately I came out and transitioned a few years after I stopped officiating. I can only imagine what kind of insults the fans would think up, not to mention the sports officials association was a giant boys club to begin with.

Part of her job is being able to tank the stress of being heckled. It doesn't matter what the heckling is about - but it's certain it will happen. If you can't keep your cool when being heckled, you can't be a ref, that's really the bottom line.

You will never ever stop a massive crowd of people from having a larger amount of very loud arseholes, they will always exist and if you can't handle it you shouldn't get involved. if she goes onto the pitch and has to walk off because of phobic slurs police won't pause the game and go through the stadium picking out each person so she can return, she'll just have to put up with it and hope they're found.

I long for the day when transgender people don't offend tons of other people simply because they exist. And I say this as a cis male. Talking to several transgender women on Discord has really opened my eyes to how difficult it is living with gender dysphoria. It's an uphill battle the whole way, just to survive. And situations that would be hard enough for people like me are an order of magnitude worse for them.

Or sports fans could be less fuckwit rabid... Oh what am I thinking, not in a million years.