Caitlyn Jenner Courts Renee Richards

Renee Richards can deny having been in touch with Caitlyn Jenner all she wants, but the comparisons are inevitable. 

  The jocks turned wearers of frocks met back in 1987.

At 80, Renee Richards Reflects on Her Place in History

Reuters caught up with the legendary Renee Richards, who says she's still amazed she broke the transgender taboo:

"How could I have actually gone out there in front of thousands of people as this notorious transsexual and compete against young women?" Richards, 80, told the news agency by phone from New York state.  "I didn't know whether I was going to be shot at, or whether I was just going to be yelled at."

Still practicing ophthalmology, Richards doesn't like being called a trailblazer or role model, saying she was "only one of a lot of pioneers." "I was certainly the one in the world of sports," she said. "But there have been others. There have been great strides made by other courageous people."

Rumors that she's been "counseling" Bruce Jenner are completely false, by the way, but perhaps most surprising is that she had a third book out last year -- "Spy Night and Other Memories a Collection of Stories from Dick and Renee" -- that I've never even heard of!

Read the full article, including comments from Billie Jean King and a funny observations from Nancy Richey, HERE.

Order HERE.

Having It Both Ways?

The New York Times reports that Keelin Godsey, a 28-year-old from Massachusetts who was seeking to become the first openly transgender athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics, failed to qualify for the London Games in the women’s hammer throw competition last Thursday.

OK.

Now can someone enlighten me here? I find it wrong -- or the very least hypocritical -- for a female-to-male transathlete to want to compete as a female, but be recognized as a man. (This happened in college basketball, too.) I understand Keelin Godsey hasn't undergone any official transformation (hormones, surgery, etc.) so is legally "good" to compete as a female. But isn't the whole point that you DON'T have to have done any of these things to be the other gender -- "it's what's between your ears, not your legs" -- so aren't you going against everything you believe in by wanting to compete against the wrong sex?

Tit for Tat

Some good news for the T in the LGBT community. After a 44-year-old transgender woman from New Jersey was initially denied coverage for a mammogram, her insurance has reversed itself ... after Beth Scott sought help from a lawyer. Take that, Aetna! Read HERE.

Chelsea Handler Offers to Buy Chaz Bono a Penis

On last night's "Chelsea Lately," my favorite talk-show host offered to buy Chaz Bono a new penis. She said she's not sure why GLAAD is upset with her now, but that hopefully hooking Mr. Bono up will settle things. By the way, for those who don't appreciate Chelsea, it's worth noting that she later asked sidekick Chuy if he had ever met a man without a penis before, to which he replied: "I'm looking at one now." Both Chelsea and I about died laughing!

Renee Richards: Third-Set Tiebreaker

I just read Renee Richards' new book, "No Way Renee: The Second Half of My Notorious Life." As you may recall, I fell in love with tennis during the summer of '77 -- aka the summer of Renee Richards. Although I shared none of her gender confusion, there was something inherently fascinating about her to me even as a child. Looking back I think I was attracted to her because I was so confused about my sexuality, yet she was able to put who she was on display for the whole world.

A couple of years later I got to see her on a practice court at the Avon Championships of Detroit. Later while watching a match I noticed her sitting in the players' box so I went down to get her autograph. It was in the middle of a point, so Renee politely but firmly pushed me down in the chair next to her as to not be distracting. I stayed for the duration of the game and I remember just staring into her eyes hoping that somehow she would know exactly what I was going through. In reality she just signed my trusty autograph book and sent me on my way. (Trannies love their accent marks, see below.)

Nonetheless, my fascination never waned and over the years I read her autobiography, "Second Serve," and then eagerly watched the made-for-television movie of it. I remember thinking that Vanessa Redgrave was very convincing as Richard Raskind but couldn't pull off the "after" part at all! I even ended up switching to a racket she used at one time -- the Yamaha YFG20 -- although it had more to do with thinking it looked cool than her using it. More recently, however, I have read a number of conflicting reports that Richards regretted having had sex-reassignment surgery and have even seen her quoted as being highly critical of pro-tranny rulings in sports. I'm hoping this new book sets the record straight on all counts. Based on the preface, that appears to be her motivation for writing it.

P.S. Who knew getting Caroline Stoll's autograph would be so much more fun?

Excerpt: 'No Way Renee: The Second Half of My Notorious Life' (NPR)
Check out "No Way Renee: The Second Half of My Notorious Life" on Amazon.