Former Australia sevens star Ellia Green has revealed his transition to transgender male during a transphobia and homophobia summit at Ottawa, Canada.
Assigned female at birth in Fiji, Green, 29, made his international sevens debut in 2013 and was part of the Aussie women's team that beat New Zealand for gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but lost to the Black Ferns Sevens at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
He began his transition after retiring and is believed to be the first Olympian to come out as transgender male.
Green also played a season of NRLW for NZ Warriors in 2020, scoring two tries in three games.
"I promised myself that when my rugby career ended, I would continue to live the rest of my life in the identity and the body that I that I know I am meant to be in," said Green, who lives in Sydney with wife Vanessa and newborn daughter Waitui.
"Being open about my gender identity is a really difficult thing to do these days. All you have to do is turn on the TV, look on social media platforms, and you can see the amount of bullying, harm and discrimination that goes on about gender identities.
"It's extremely harmful, so for someone to be open and honest about their identity to the public eye is absolutely daunting."
Green has used the summit, held in conjunction with the Bingham Cup - the world championships of gay and inclusive rugby - to condemn World Rugby's ban on transgender women from international competition.
"Imagine not being able to do what you love because of how you identify. Banning transgender people from sport, I think, is disgraceful and I think it's hurtful," he said.
"I think that the alarmingly high rates of suicide and the mental health challenges that trans and gender-diverse youth experience will get even worse."
