Layshia Clarendon made history in 2015 as the first nonbinary player in the WNBA. Now, they’re hanging up their jersey.
“The time has come for my basketball career to end,” they shared on Instagram Friday. “I am deeply at peace with this choice as my mind, body and spirit know unequivocally that it’s time to move on.”
The 33-year-old guard was first drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2013. They went on to play for Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream, Connecticut Sun, New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx, and most recently, Los Angeles Sparks.
Clarendon, who uses he/she/they pronouns, thanked all their teammates over the years, who have turned into loving friends.
“The sisterhood is what I’ve loved about playing and will miss,” they said. “The way y’all helped me fill in my mustache, made jokes about my gender, the ways I joked about my gender.”
They also gave a shoutout to their wife, Jessica Dolan, who they married in 2017 and has supported them in their gender journey. The couple welcomed one child together in 2020.
“Without you, I wouldn’t have made it this long,” they wrote.
During Clarendon’s third WNBA season, they came out as “non-cisgender” in an essay titled “Keeping the Faith” for the Players’ Tribune.
“I identify as black, gay, female, non-cisgender and Christian,” they wrote. “I am an outsider even on the inside of every community to which I belong. My very existence challenges every racial, sexual, gender and religious barrier.”
Clarendon came out as trans in 2020, sharing on Instagram that “there’s no one way to be trans.” Shortly after, in 2021, they made history again as the first WNBA player to get top surgery. “I want Trans people to know and see that we’ve always existed & no one can erase us!” they wrote on Instagram.
Clarendon made the WNBA All-Star team in 2017 and became a FIBA World Cup Gold Medalist in 2018.
