By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer
On September 13, the BC Lions hosted the Toronto Argonauts and honoured some of their alumni for their Wall of Fame night. The 2000 Grey Cup-winning team were the special guests that night, with the team reuniting 24 years after taking their sub-.500 winning percentage team to the top of the Canadian Football League (CFL) — the first team to do so.
It was also the first time Maven Maurer heard her chosen name over the loud speaker at BC Place, 15 years after retiring from the CFL.
Maurer played 13 seasons in the CFL, including two with the BC Lions in 2000 and 2001. She won a Grey Cup with the Lions in 2000 and the Edmonton Elks in 2005. A legend in her own right for Edmonton’s special teams, Maurer was named to the Elks’ 2000s All-Decade Team.
Maurer first came out publicly on Instagram in 2023, and this was her first time facing her former Lions teammates since her transition. She later told Canadian football news site 3DownNation she found “near-complete acceptance” from her former colleagues when she appeared on the turf field in downtown Vancouver.
“Sports like football that notoriously carry hypermasculine stereotypes can be slow to accept change, though Maurer’s acceptance from her former CFL compatriots is proof that these harmful cultures can be shifted.”
“So many said, ‘You know what, we’re proud of you. We’re family. We bled together, we sweated together, and achieved,” Maurer told CBC of her experience reuniting with the 2000 Lions squad.
Sports cultures have been slowly accepting 2SLGBTQIA+ identities, though it is still an uphill battle in many communities. Maurer is the first former CFL player to come out as trans, and hopes to pave the way for more 2SLGBTQIA+ acceptance in Canadian football. Other than Maurer, the only publicly queer CFL alum is Michael Sam, former Montreal Alouettes defensive end and the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL. Sam now coaches American football in Europe.
Maurer hopes to be a beacon of hope for past or present football players struggling with their identities by being open about her true self in the public eye. Sports like football that notoriously carry hypermasculine stereotypes can be slow to accept change, though Maurer’s acceptance from her former CFL compatriots is proof that these harmful cultures can be shifted.
“I want to try to reach more people. I want to be more visible. I want to use any voice that I have to raise awareness,” Maurer told 3DownNation. “Sometimes you don’t know that things are a possibility until you see someone else doing it.”
Maurer also hopes to use her status as a former professional football player to dissuade negative stereotypes about trans identities and combat transphobia in the modern age, especially as hate crimes against 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals in Canada are on the rise. She looks to add a familiar face for those who may not be as knowledgeable about trans identities, in football spaces and beyond.
