A transgender tennis player is calling on the city’s Human Rights Commission and Parks Department to investigate an amateur tennis league, alleging Brooklyn Tennis League, a division of Tennis League Network, kicked her out last week after a cisgender female opponent complained about competing against a trans player.
Cammie Woodman beat her opponent 6-2, 6-0 in what she described as a friendly match at Lincoln Terrace Park tennis courts in Crown Heights last week. The two had a “pleasant conversation after,” said Woodman.
What followed was a series of email exchanges between Woodman, her opponent and the league’s chief executive, Steven Chagnon, that culminated in the removal of Woodman and at least one of her supporters from the amateur league. Several other members left in protest.
Woodman, 25, posted many of those exchanges on her public Instagram account and has called on the Department of Parks and Recreation and the city Commission on Human Rights to investigate the incident and to remove Tennis League Network from city courts.
Tennis League Network is an amateur recreational league with partners all over the country, more akin to a social meet-up group than a pro or elite league, sources said.
“As a trans athlete, especially when you care about the sport so much, it’s such a nightmare to be accused of trying to gain an unfair advantage over players in the league that you cared about,” said Woodman, who noted she has also lost to many cisgender female players. “When you respect the league and your opponents and the league so much, it hurts to see your opponents disrespect you that way.”
Representatives for Tennis League Network, which operates several chapters nationwide, did not respond to requests for comment. The city Parks Department said it had not issued the group permits for league play for 2025, and a spokesperson for the agency said “discrimination has no place in our city.”
“Our public parks are spaces where all New Yorkers and visitors should feel welcome,” added the spokesperson, Chris Clark.
“Discrimination based on gender identity is illegal under the New York City Human Rights Law,” said Laura Brantley, the spokesperson for the city Commission on Human Rights. “Anyone who has experienced or witnessed discrimination, should reach out to the commission.”
‘A Very Low-Stakes League’
While other amateur tennis leagues and clubs in New York charge seasonal or yearly membership dues in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, Tennis League Network distinguished itself because of its low cost — as little as $40 for the season — and focus on casual, social match-ups, players said.
Members self-report their skill level based on a questionnaire and are placed in forums and lists with other players in the same category. Players use the network’s website to post meet-up times and final match scores, and members play on public courts.
Woodman, who began playing tennis a few years ago while transitioning, rates herself an intermediate player. Before tennis, she had never played any kind of sport in her life, she told THE CITY.
“It’s a very low-stakes league,” said Molly Higgins, who joined Tennis League Network last year to meet other amateur women singles’ players and is now planning on leaving the league in protest. “This is just a group of Brooklyn women who just want to play.”
Trans tennis athlete Cammie Woodman practices in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn on Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY
The morning after the game, Woodman was at work when she said she received an email from Chagnon, the Tennis League Network chief executive. Her opponent had emailed Chagnon about the results of Tuesday night’s match, saying “it’s unfair for me, or any other woman in this league, to play against a man under the pretense that he is a woman.”
Chagnon forwarded the message to Woodman, along with a request. “Cammie, Can we move you to an appropriate level Men’s Division?”
Woodman refused and offered to show her medical records. “If you decide I cannot participate I will take my money back. Let me know what you would like to do,” she wrote back. Other league members, including Mel O’Brien, a friend of Woodman’s, emailed Chagnon to advocate on Woodman’s behalf.
“We have zero interest in being involved,” responded Chagnon to Woodman Wednesday evening, while sending a similar message to O’Brien. “Everyone who is connected is getting refunded immediately and removed from the program.”
It is unclear if Woodman’s opponent was among the people booted from the league as a result of the incident. Chagnon’s email was signed “Peace, Love and Happiness on the Tennis Courts.”
“It was such a sucker punch,” said Woodman of Chagnon’s initial email, adding she believed that what was “unfair” was Chagnon’s treatment of her and her friends.
“I don’t want to be in a league that discriminates against people, especially something that’s so casual, it’s so unnecessary to exclude Cammie from this league,” said O’Brien, who said she was also removed from the league after sending emails to leaders in support of Woodman.
Woodman shared details of the incident, including several of the emails, to her modest social media following on Wednesday, which have gathered hundreds of likes and comments. She received a message of support from United States Tennis Association – Eastern, which featured her in a social media campaign last year promoting Pride Month. (TLN is not affiliated with the United States Tennis Association.)
“So sorry you’re experiencing this, Cammie ❤️🩹 tennis is for everyone, period,” the account commented on one of Woodman’s posts about the incident.
Woodman said she wants the Parks Department and the city Human Rights Commission to investigate TLN and Chagnon and remove the network from public tennis courts. She asked not to name her opponent, and has not named her publicly, because she feels that her now former league is at fault and let her down.
“I think the damage is done, and clearly I wouldn’t want to join this league again,” Woodman said. “I don’t know what he’d [Chagnon] say that would make this OK, and I don’t know that I would trust him to be genuine.”
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