"All we want is to be ourselves" - Noa-Lynn van Leuven responds to criticism

Wednesday, 15 May 2024 at 08:26

noa lynn van leuven r1 womens world matchplay 1

Noa-Lynn van Leuven caused a stir in recent months by winning tournaments of the PDC Women's Series as well as the Challenge Tour. However, the Dutch transwoman also received some criticism, not only online but from fellow players.

For example, Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf refuse to play with Van Leuven for the Dutch ladies team alongside van Leuven and Deta Hedman recently withdrew from her scheduled quarterfinal against van Leuven on principle at the Denmark Open.

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Van Leuven responded to the criticism on the program Sophie & Jeroen. "It is said that I went into transition to perform better. That is totally untrue," she explains. "I have never seen anyone who has gone through the years of misery of transition only to perform better afterwards. All we want is to be ourselves."

"As trans people, we want to be respected," Van Leuven continued. "I'm Noa-Lynn, I'm a woman and I just want to do what I love to do and happen to be good at, and that's darts," concluded the 27-year-old.

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Bar Laat

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Noa-Lynn van Leuven is de beste Nederlandse dartster van het moment, maar ze kreeg de afgelopen tijd een vloedgolf van haat over zich heen. Ze is een trans persoon én topsporter en dat gaat niet altijd makkelijk samen. Noa-Lynn van Leuven: “Het enige wat we willen is gewoon…

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