Apex Legends all-women tournament reverses disqualification of trans player following backlash

HER Galaxy, a women-oriented esports organisation, has reinstated a trans player after she was banned from an all-women Apex Legends tournament last week.

Kotaku reports that the player, Gabe (who uses she/they pronouns), had already confirmed with an admin for the tournament that she’d be able to compete, as her ID has male pronouns on it (she claims that the verification process for the tournament required players to submit government ID and share their pronouns). She told Kotaku: “They understood my circumstances, they knew I couldn’t go change my government identity because of me potentially getting kicked out of my house.”

However, things took a turn for the worse on 18 May, when Gabe received a message from HER Galaxy which said that she and her team, Team VEXXX, were “ineligible to continue competing in the Apex Legends tournament…based on previously submitted documentation, including gender self identity.”

A later message continued: “These decisions are not easy, we understand that everyone’s journeys are different and may not be linear. We don’t take these decisions lightly and it’s a priority for us that all participants meet the qualifications specified in the rulebook in order to maintain the competitive integrity of the tournament. This issue was raised by a significant number of participants in the tournament. Galaxy Racer and HER Galaxy conducted a thorough investigation in that matter and this is the decision based on the investigation.”

Following the announcement of the decision, it’s reported that the HER Galaxy Discord chat quickly filled with accusations of transphobic hate. Then, on 19 May, one tournament crew member confirmed that Team VEXXX had been reinstated.

A statement shared in the Discord chat said that “the HER Galaxy $100K Apex Legends Open was created to provide an inclusive, welcoming space for women and trans women”, and added: “This is a teachable moment for us, and we will continue to improve our processes so this does not happen again.”

What’s more, it was confirmed that a different team had been disqualified as a result of discourse which violated HER Galaxy’s code of conduct. The esports organisation reiterated that it has “a zero tolerance policy for discriminatory behaviour”.