History-making NBA referee comes out as nonbinary & transgender

Che Flores, an NBA referee touted as one of the first two female referees in the league, is setting the record straight by letting people know that they identify as both transgender and nonbinary.

Flores says they’re “letting people in” after recognizing some hurt they felt after coming out to colleagues during a pre-season meeting earlier this year.

Related: Bernie Wagenblast, the booming voice of NYC’s subway, has come out as transgender

“For me, this change is the culmination of a lifelong dream.”

“One piece I was missing for myself was that no one knew how I identified,” they said. “Being misgendered as she/her always just felt like a little jab in the gut.”

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“When I started refereeing, you had to look a certain way,” Flores told GQ. “This is the first time I’m comfortable expressing myself through my own fashion and not having to worry about it. I feel one hundred percent myself now.

“I can go through the world and even my job a lot more comfortably,” they added.

As Republicans have vilified transgender people and banned trans athletes from school sports, Flores knows that her announcement can make a small difference.

“I just think of having younger queer kids look at somebody who’s on a high-profile stage and not using [that privlege],” Flores told GQ. “And I’m not using the league to an advantage in any way. This is just to let young kids know that we can exist, we can be successful in all different ways. For me, that is most important — to just be a face that somebody can be like, ‘Oh, okay that person exists. I think I can do that.’”

They said they’re consciously “letting people in” instead of shutting them out.

“I’m allowing you in my life,” they said. “And then you have the decision to be a part of it or not. I feel like I have a responsibility to be who exactly I am without hiding anything. I am letting everybody in.”

“I just feel like just 100% myself now,” they continued, “and I just feel so light now, moving around, not having to worry about anything. I don’t have to worry about myself not being myself.”