Panelists & Panel Moderator
Jessica PLATT • Max DENLEY • Sabrina RAZACK
Parissa SAFAI
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JESSICA PLATT (Panelist)
Former Professional Ice Hockey Player with the PWHPA and Advocate for Transgender Rights
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Jessica Platt is a retired professional hockey player. She played for the Toronto Furies in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), followed by Toronto in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association(PWHPA) which was a predecessor to the new Toronto PWHL team. While playing professionally she has been part of the fight for a sustainable professional hockey league that young girls could dream to play, like their male peers.She is the first out trans woman to play professional hockey in North America. Coming out in 2018 she was one of few Professional Athletes to be out as a trans woman at the time. Jessica grew up having few positive trans role models which cemented her desire to give others someone they could look to and see that they could follow their dreams, and most importantly live their authentic life and find happiness. Jessica continues to advocate for trans athletes in sport, as well as for equity in sport with a special focus on hockey.
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MAX DENLEY (Panelist)
Registered Social Worker and Settler, Supporting 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth and Families
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Max Denley is a trans man, Registered Social Worker, and settler near Toronto, Ontario, specializing in supporting 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and families. His lived experience and commitment to providing identity affirming services fuel his passion for creating spaces for Queer folks to thrive.
Max attended Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia to pursue his Bachelor of Music Therapy degree, where he played on the women’s hockey team before coming out as a trans man and beginning his medical transition. He later moved back to Toronto, pursuing his Master of Social Work degree with a specialization in working with children and families.
Sports have played a large role in Max’s life from an early age, growing up playing competitive hockey and spending most waking hours at the rink. Today, Max can be found playing Flag Football in the summer, and on the ice with the Toronto Gay Hockey Association in the winter. He has also been involved with “Team Trans,” bringing together the first team of all trans hockey players to take to the ice in Canada. He believes in the importance of sports to mental and physical health, that everyone should have access and opportunities, and speaks out against unnecessary barriers and restrictions put on trans athletes’ participation.
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SABRINA RAZACK
(panelist)
PhD at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education with a collaborative specialization in Women and Gender Studies
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Sabrina Razack is an educator in the Toronto area and recent PhD grad from the University of Toronto. The program at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education was combined with a collaborative specialization in the Women and Gender Studies department. Sabrina worked with Canadian Women & Sport, the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games and various community organizations. Her thesis involved a case study of the Black Girl Hockey Club and examined the intersections of physical activity, sport, social movements, media, race, gender, class and culture. Sabrina is an award winning curriculum writer, and developed http://teachbeyondaboundary.com/. Her new role is with the global organization, the Centre for Sport and Human Rights. As the project lead for Canada, she is responsible for developing an initiative around children's rights in collaboration with the other host cities in the United States and Mexico.
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PARISSA SAFAI
(moderator)
Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health at York University
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Parissa Safai (she/her) is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health at York University. Her research interests focus on the critical socio-cultural study of sport at the intersection of risk, health and healthcare including the social determinants of athletes’ health. Her interests also centre on sport and social inequality with focused attention paid to the impact of gender, socio-economic, and ethnocultural inequities on accessible physical activity for all. She has served in a variety of academic leadership roles including as Special Advisor to the President for Academic Continuity Planning and COVID-19 Response in 2021-2022. Outside of York, she has served on several journal editorial boards, on the Executive Board for the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS), and will begin a four-year term as President of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA) as of January 2024.
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