NCAA’s first openly transgender swimmer Schuyler Bailar finds his real self and flourishes at Harvard

Tuesday, May 28, 2019 - 21:14 in Psychology & Sociology

This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. Schuyler Bailar ’19 is excited about being excited about the future. More than four years ago, during a gap year in which he came out as transgender, he was uncertain whether there was a future for him. A star swimmer in high school, Bailar was recruited by Harvard to swim on the women’s team, but he postponed his enrollment to deal with an eating disorder that he later found out was masking a gender identity issue. During his gap year, driven by his desire to be “true to himself,” Bailar underwent a double mastectomy and transitioned into a man. He knew he didn’t want to quit swimming, but he was unsure about the University’s response. When Harvard’s women’s swimming and diving coach Stephanie Morawski and men’s swimming coach Kevin Tyrrell learned about Bailar’s transitioning, they both embraced him wholeheartedly. It...

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