I grew up being bullied and just feeling like an outcast in a lot of different things that I was in. If I would have had a supportive powerlifting community when I was younger the way that I do now, I would have probably come out to myself a lot sooner.

Maybe not necessarily in terms of coming out as a trans man, but I would’ve probably not tried to be like everyone else , or to try fitting in while feeling uncomfortable all the time.

It probably would have made life a little bit easier for myself mentally. Because it was hard — especially into my teenage years, with just trying to be like everyone else in high school. Now with the community that I'm a part of, I feel like I could be whoever I want, do whatever, and be fine with it.

For the future, I just hope that whoever or however someone may identify, they should be able to be in the sport of their choice. I think that's the ultimate goal that a lot of people want and I would hope to see that as well.

I don't know if we'll ever get to that point but I hope we progress towards it. I don't know if we'll ever fully succeed but I hope that step by step, we will be able to do that, especially with the high school sports and middle school sports.

Young people should be able to play whatever they want with whatever team, so that: one, it's not messing with their mental health; and two, they can explore what they want to do, figure out who they are, and know what they want to play or do as a career later on.

There's just so much going on with trying to take away all the rights that have already been fought for once. So it's a long road ahead.

[As told to @Ragi Gupta — continued]