If the Arthur Ashe ESPY Award for Courage were around 40 years ago, Richards would have won it hands down.
As Caitlyn Jenner stood proudly on stage reciting her acceptance speech for the 2015 Arthur Ashe ESPY Award for Courage, she remembered to thank those who came before her, including Rene Richards. Though Caitlyn’s athletic career is over, she was right to acknowledge Richards as someone who fought for equality in sports and came out at a time when there were no Diane Sawyer interview opportunities, celebrity reality shows, or the kind of openness and acceptance that exits in today’s society.
Renee Richards was a well-known doctor and a professional male tennis player for many years. She transitioned fully in 1975 and began playing tennis against other women. Her personal story is filled with a heavy mixture of discrimination, heartache, determination and triumph. It’s so compelling, in fact, that it was featured in a 2011 ESPN documentary called simply, Renee. (If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.)
In 1976, Richards took a courageous step forward and brazenly entered the U.S. Open to compete in the women’s bracket. But the United States Tennis Association denied her entry because of a discriminatory “women-born-women” policy. Richards fought the policy, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor.She was able to compete. It was a groundbreaking decision and one that initiated the beginning of a long, hard fight for transgender rights and policies that is still going on today.
Richards continued to play professionally from 1977 to 1981. Her greatest accomplishment on the tennis court was reaching the doubles final in her first appearance in the U.S. Open—the one that she was initially banned from playing in. Richards retired at the age of 47 and went on to coach Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon championships. But the most amazing thing about Richards’accomplishments is that she did it all at a time when the language regarding transgender rights in sports—and transgender rights in general—didn’t even exist. That took guts. That took faith. And that took courage.
Richards was rightfully inducted in the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 and her legacy lives on to this day. Just ask Caitlyn Jenner.