Niko Cohen Shares Experience as an Adult Skater Who is Trans

Niko Cohen (they/them) re-discovered skating as a college student at Boston University in 2016 after taking Learn to Skate USA classes as a child.
 
It all started when Cohen's roommate asked if they wanted to go to a public session. They jumped at the opportunity because it had been a while since they were on the ice. The following week, the first episode of the popular figure skating anime series Yuri!!! on Ice was released and Cohen was hooked.
 
"It's kind of crazy because sometimes you watch a single episode of an anime and then you have an entire career, hobby, sport-life path presented before you," Cohen said.

 
Cohen skated as much as possible that winter at The Boston Common Frog Pond and signed up for their first figure skating class at BU for the 2017 spring semester. The university offers Basic Skills all the way up to competitive figure skating, and it's all included in the tuition.
 
Skating is so much more than a hobby and sport for Cohen. It has been extremely therapeutic. Their therapist told them skating is "part of your mental healthcare treatment. It's just as important as taking your meds," they recalled. "My dad was very supportive of my skating because he also saw it was good for my mental health."
 
Self-Discovery
It was also at BU that Cohen truly became aware of their self-identity. The week before freshman year, Cohen attended the school's First-Year Student Outreach Program to explore the city and make friends.
 
"You do it through different perspectives of social justice -- gender, homelessness, disabilities, climate – whatever kind of cause feels important to you. I chose the gender and sexuality one and I remember the first meeting, they were like, 'What are your pronouns?' and someone else had asked, 'What do you mean?' They explained you could use she/her, he/him, they/them. Immediately, from that meeting, I was like, 'I use they/them pronouns.' I was 18 at the time and I am 27 now."
 
Niko considers themself to be on the trans-masculine side of gender presentation. They currently use testosterone gel and plan to have "top surgery" (a gender-affirming surgery for trans men and non-binary individuals that creates a masculine chest) at Boston Children's Hospital at the conclusion of the Theatre On Ice season because they'll be sidelined during recovery.
 
"They allow trans patients up to the age of 35, which is awesome because a lot of trans people don't realize they're trans until adulthood, so it's nice that Boston Children's opens that space for us," Cohen said. "It's an outpatient surgery and I'm not supposed to do any physical activity for six to eight weeks post-op."
 
Competing As a Trans Athlete
Cohen chooses to compete in the women's category at competitions because there are more entrants than in the male category.
 
"It feels more competitive," they explained. "I would rather [place in the] middle out of the pack of 20 [female] skaters than place five out of six [male] skaters."
 
When registering online with U.S. Figure Skating, Cohen has met some challenges. "You have to choose your sex based on the competition that you'll be entering, so if I choose female through my profile with U.S. Figure Skating, then I compete with women. If I choose male, then I compete with men. Neither of those categories fit."
 
At the moment, U.S. Figure Skating's membership system does not give the option for chosen pronouns, so at competitions, Cohen makes it a point to introduce themself to the announcers and request that they use they/them pronouns or just refer to them by name.
 
The other hurdle Cohen had to overcome was getting a background check for U.S. Figure Skating's SkateSafe program. Cohen's legal name is different from the name they compete under, but it eventually did get sorted out.
 
Cohen feels that, especially for skaters who began skating as an adult, it is a pretty level playing field skill-wise for men and women, so they'd welcome the idea of co-ed competitions, citing that solo dance, Theatre On Ice and synchro are already co-ed.
 
U.S. Figure Skating is supportive of the LGBTQ+ community and fiercely defended pairs skater Timothy LeDuc, who identifies as gender non-binary, when they faced criticism and homophobic remarks earlier this year leading up to the Olympics.
 
"I was so, so thrilled to see that they made the Olympic team and it feels good, especially because it seems to me that people's ideas of a non-binary person is 'woman-lite,'" Cohen said. "It's really awesome to see Timothy, who doesn't present themself as a 'woman-lite.' Here is a feminine and masculine person who also uses they/them pronouns who is also gender non-conforming on a national and international stage."
 
Cohen does praise U.S. Figure Skating for having gender-neutral bathrooms at the 2022 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships in April in Newark, Delaware, where they competed at the adult silver level.
 
At their club and competitions, Cohen has found that people are not "actively malicious to my face," but has been met with some snide remarks from hockey players or parents, especially when at rinks outside of urban areas. They feel that many people just lack education but are willing to learn.
 
"Members have come up to me and said, 'I would totally take a course or attend a seminar or something on how trans people like to be referred to," they said. "I think the most day-to-day biggest frustration is if I am misgendered, that people then profusely over-apologize. I just want you to correct yourself and move on. Repeat the sentence using the proper pronoun so that you have practiced using it and just move on."
 
Costuming
Cohen wears black skates and competes in pants and a blouse, rather than a skating dress.
 
"I remember when I got my first pair of black skates," they said. "I did have white skates before. The Skating Club of Boston has mirrors in the rink and I remember seeing myself with black skates on and it was this moment of, 'Oh, that's me! That checks out.' That mental image I have of myself apparently included black skates."
 
At BU, Cohen earned a degree in costume production for theater, focusing on historical recreations and costumes for opera. Now, they work as an associate designer and dressmaker at Yumi Couture, a Boston-area studio that makes figure skating costumes for Mirai Nagasu, Ashley Wagner, Jimmy Ma, Maxim Naumov, the Haydenettes, and several up-and-coming Team USA and international skaters.
 
And yes, Cohen makes their own costumes, too! This season, they skated to a piece from Yuri!!! on Ice titled "Aria: Stammi Vicino Non te ne Andare." The fictional five-time world champion Victor Nikiforov skated to this music in the anime series.
 
"My costume was inspired by the costume that he wears in the show when he does his free skate, so it's the same colors – the magenta, gradient, gold and crystals," Cohen said. "Designing skating costumes is very, very different from general clothing and costume design. Even over a year of working for Yumi, there's still so much that I am learning the nuances of patterning and fabric."
 
Cohen said people recognizing their routine from Yuri!!! on Ice is almost as good as winning gold.
 
"It doesn't matter how I placed," they said. "[Someone] fangirling over my skate and my costume and my choreography and everything was the best."
 
Cohen would like to be a resource for families that want to better understand gender identity issues. 
 
"A lot of parents don't like that, and I want to have more of these conversations," they said. "I think this is in part related to all the anti-trans sports legislation. There's this misconception that trans people are predators, cross-dressers, pedophiles, groomers and all of these horrible things.
 
"Being queer is a vast culture and speaking about trans issues and trans experiences isn't inappropriate."
 
If you are interested in learning more about transgender legislature, Cohen recommends www.transathlete.com and ACLU.org.

Be Here! Be You!

In celebration of Pride Month, The Skating Club of Boston and Joy Skate Productions held the fundraiser Be Here! Be You! on June 4. The event, at which Cohen performed, benefitted the Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital, where Cohen will undergo surgery. Olympian and world champion Randy Gardner hosted the event.