Who is Che Flores? NBA’s first openly nonbinary and transgender referee
In a landmark move, the league now has a referee that’s inevitably going to turn heads. The question is who is it and should that even be a topic of debate?
The NBA has got itself another top-notch official, and while there will be debate around the situation, one has to ask whether it’s about the sport, politics, or simply the resistance to change.
The NBA makes strides with Che Flores
On Monday, reports confirmed that the NBA’s Che Flores became the league’s first officially acknowledged nonbinary and transgender referee. Indeed, Flores who uses the pronoun ‘they’ was featured in a story published by GQ on Monday in which it was confirmed that this is their second season in the NBA, after officiating 35 games last season, after working as a nonstaff official for 12 games during the 2021-22 NBA season.
“One piece I was missing for myself was that no one knew how I identified,” Flores said. “Being misgendered as she/her always just felt like a little jab in the gut. ...I can go through the world and even my job a lot more comfortably,” Flores added.
The NBA has been working with Che Flores for some time
It’s worth noting that as much as this may be new for the public, NBA executives have known about Flores’ preferences for some time after they were revealed during preseason meetings last month. In total, the second-year referee has officiated for more or less a decade in both the G League and WNBA. As things stand, Flores has handled some major games including the G League Finals, the WNBA Finals, and the NCAA women’s national championship game.
“I just think of having younger queer kids look at somebody who’s on a high-profile stage and not using it,” Flores said. “And I’m not using the league to an advantage in any way. This is just to let young kids know that we can exist, we can be successful in all different ways.”