The term “transgender athletes” probably makes your ears perk up with culture war associations. The current climate could easily convince you this marginal community is everywhere, storming through championships and bathrooms. In reality, spaces for trans athletes are few and far between.
Queer social group Trans Dudes of LA (TDLA) is providing a solution to that — T-Boy Wrestling. The event happens every so often, and as the name suggests, it’s where transgender men get to wrestle each other.
I initially heard about it from my roommate, who was convinced that she’d find her future husband there. When she begged me to go, I thought it would be the type of DIY queer popup where wrestling was secondary to drinks and a DJ set.
Wrong. These guys were really wrestling.
A referee watches intently as two wrestlers fight for a pin. Photo by Kelsey Ngante.
On a Saturday, Trans Dudes of LA transformed a gymnasium at the Silverlake Jewish Community Center into a full-blown wrestling arena. There were stage lights, a multicam broadcast, musical entrances, ring girls, glittery costumes, and the types of acrobatic stunts I’d only seen on TV. Wrestlers flipped and folded each other while hundreds of spectators cheered.
At one point, a wrestler named “Twinkward Cullen” stormed the stage to battle a costumed werewolf called “Jacob Fangbang.”
It all felt very WWE, but with a distinct queer touch.
“I mean, WWE, WWF, that's all-day drag, baby,” says MC of the night, drag king Mauro Cuchi. “That's just the cis, straight people trying to pass it off as something it's not.”
Trans Dudes of LA Co-director Mich Miller broke it down: “[The wrestling] is a theme for performing gender expression from the perspective that you want That can be drag or camp, but WWE, which is like its own form of wrestling, that's very performative [too]. And then real wrestling, which is two men really slamming against each other and [wearing] very tight spandex, have different brands of homoeroticism within them. But ours is the trans lens and a combination of both.”
The flashy fun of T-Boy Wrestling drew in audience member Monique Laborde: “I've been watching the videos on repeat on my phone because it's so hot, so cool. I just can't wait to scream like a woman at the Beatles concert in 1960.”
A ring girl shows her support for the transgender athletes in the ring. Photo by Kelsey Ngante.
After launching the event in September, Trans Dudes of LA wanted a bigger and better T-Boy Wrestling since President Donald Trump won re-election and declared the federal government would only recognize gender as the sex assigned at birth.
“The rawness and the energy in the room was extreme six months ago, but post-election, the emotional tenor and the need for this therapeutically from the crowd was higher than ever,” Miller says.
T-Boy Wrestling drew attendees from all across the country. Drag king Joe Navarc flew in from Detroit, Michigan to attend.
“I love the performance and the self-expression and athleticism,” Navarc says.
“Personally, I tried to be on the wrestling team when I was in middle school, and they didn’t let me because I was at the time the only girl. They kept trying to give excuses … like ‘what if you get embarrassed?’ or ‘what if you’re in the locker room all by yourself?’ … But now, seeing a wrestling event for people like me is just so groundbreaking because it’s what I wanted.”
Wrestler Devyn Black had a similar story: “When I wrestled in high school, I was on a girls wrestling team, so I never really got to experience what it's like, being a guy on the guys’ wrestling team. I get to relive my teenhood and my girlhood, but as a guy. So I get to have this newfound boyhood.”
Trans Dudes of LA Founder Adam Bandrowski says that’s the goal. “[Wrestling] is traditionally a masculine sport. So I think a lot of TDLA is taking things that were traditionally meant for cis men and reclaiming them.”
Referee Ashton Askew-Shabazz says events like this reclaim more than the right to play sports. They reclaim the right to live. “I can't believe that we exist in these numbers … Honestly, I had started to believe the narrative that we don't deserve to exist, like, quietly. And so then when I come in here and I'm reminded of how great and vast our community actually is, and diverse and kind and friendly, I'm just filled with absolute joy.”
Bandrowski and Miller’s future dreams for Trans Dudes of LA include more events, and potentially offering housing for displaced trans people. But in the meantime, they plan to take T-Boy Wrestling to San Francisco and New York City this year.