Harrison Browne will make history Friday when the Buffalo Beauts and Boston Pride begin their NWHL seasons, becoming the first transgender athlete in professional North American team sport.

Harrison, born as Hailey Browne in 1993, has identified as a man with friends, family, and teammates at varying stages beginning in university, but decided to make it official in advance of this season, notifying the NWHL.

The league is now working on creating a policy to include transgender athletes but, regardless, is fully accepting of Browne, and his position on a women's professional team.

"At the end of the day, Harrison is the same player he was last year," NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan told ESPN. "We're here to support him. It's really not a big deal when you look at it, we're respecting his name, the pronouns and his request to be his authentic self."

Browne planned to transition medically, but is postponing that until his career in the NWHL is over.

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