"The most liberating feeling." Ellia Green confirms his identity as a trans man.

Olympic champion Ellia Green–- one of the stars of Australia’s gold medal-winning women’s rugby sevens team at the 2016 Olympics – has confirmed he is a trans man.

Green, who has kept the same name, said it was the best decision of his life. Realising that sharing his experience could be lifesaving for others is what compelled Green to go public in a video shown on Tuesday at an international summit on ending transphobia and homophobia in sport. The summit was hosted in Ottawa as part of the Bingham Cup rugby tournament.

The only other transgender or gender diverse Olympic gold medallists are Caitlyn Jenner, who transitioned nearly 40 years after winning gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and Quinn, who goes by one name and was part of Canada’s winning women’s soccer team in Tokyo last year.

Seeing so few trans athletes at the elite level and transphobic commentary on social media, particularly since World Rugby’s decision to bar transgender women from playing women’s rugby, hastened Green’s push to highlight the harm those things can cause some children.

Most importantly, it’s an attempt to draw attention to a serious health issue – some studies say more than 40 per cent of trans youth have once considered attempting suicide.

29-year-old Green has admitted to being in a “dark place” after retiring from rugby at the end of 2021.

“This is what happened to me,” Green told The Associated Press. “Pretty much my rugby career ended and I had been in and out of mental health facilities for serious issues. My depression hit a new level of sadness.”

He’s in a much better place now with his partner, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, and their infant daughter, Waitui.

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A post shared by Ellia Tiriseyani Green (@elliagreen)

“Vanessa was pregnant and having to come to hospital to visit,” Green said. “I was having bad episodes. That’s the last time I want her to have to see me like that. But the only way to help heal is to talk about it. I’d like to help someone not feel so isolated by telling my story.”

The story has been a difficult one at times. Green, who was assigned female at birth, was adopted by Yolanta and Evan Green and moved to Australia from Fiji at age three. Recalling later childhood memories of domestic violence, seeing Yolanta being abused in another relationship, Green said “caused a lot of long-lasting trauma”.

“I guess from witnessing that, I knew from an early age that was not (the kind of) relationship I wanted to have, but it shaped me to know how a woman should be treated,” Green said.

It was also a childhood that for Green was marked by an overwhelming realisation.

“As a kid I remember I thought I was a boy in public, I had a short (haircut) and whenever we met new people they thought I was a boy. I always used to wear my brother’s clothes, played with tools, and ran around with no shirt on. Until I grew breasts, and I thought ‘oh no’. My mum would dress me in girlie outfits ... I always wanted to make her happy, so if she wanted me to wear a dress, I wore a dress.”

Yolanta also helped channel Green into sports, and excellence as a sprinter in track and field eventually led to a professional career in rugby. Last November, Green announced his retirement from rugby.

“I spent a lot of time after I finished up my career with Australian rugby just in the house, in a dark room, I didn’t have the confidence to see anyone,” Green said in the video pre-recorded for the summit.

“I was ashamed of myself, I felt I had let a lot of people down, especially myself and my mum. I felt like a complete failure, it was heartbreaking. The one thing that did keep me positive is that I had already planned my surgery and treatment towards my transition. It was something I was counting down the days with my partner.”

Now Green wants to advocate for others, emphasising the harm that can be caused when sporting bans are introduced and how those policies can amplify negativity toward trans and gender diverse people.

“Banning transgender people from sport is disgraceful and hurtful. It only means the rates of suicide and mental health issues will get even worse.”

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A post shared by Ellia Tiriseyani Green (@elliagreen)

Playing rugby at any level, or even coaching, is not on Green’s radar for now. He’s currently working at the Sydney International Container Terminal and is also studying for a university degree in international security and has ambitions to be advising companies on general and cyber security.

Green hopes his story will inspire other trans people to be confident in their decisions about who they want to be.

“I just knew it was going to be the most liberating feeling when I had that surgery and to be in the body I knew I had to be,” Green said in the video. “That was a bright spark in my mind during these dark times facing demons, but I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel.”

With AAP.

Do you find the news cycle overwhelming? Depressing? Confusing? Boring? Endless? Then you need The Quicky. Mamamia’s daily podcast that gets you up to speed on the top stories.

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In exciting entertainment news, we’ve today been gifted our first look at two new projects. First up is a sneak peek at The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, followed by a teaser of the new Netflix series Wednesday. Here’s everything you need to know.

And Hollywood has fully welcomed Johnny Depp back with open arms, despite some of his troubling past actions being made public in his court case against ex-wife Amber Heard. He is taking on his first directing role in 25 years and will also star in the film alongside Al Pacino. The fallout from this cannot be underestimated.

Plus, Florence Pugh is Harper’s Bazaar’s new cover star and in an interview entitled Florence Pugh Is Just Being Honest, the actress gets very candid about her break-up with Zach Braff and the reaction to her new movie. But when it comes to her take on these two events, we must respectfully but strongly disagree with her.

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Morning all, 

It's been one year since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. My colleague Rebecca Davis has taken a look at what life has been like for women in the country ever since. You can read about it here. 

But first, there are the top news stories you need to know today, Wednesday, August 17.

1. Morrison defends ministerial appointments.

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended his decision to secretly swear himself in to at least five portfolios held by other cabinet ministers.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed Morrison had secretly appointed himself to the finance, treasury, health, home affairs and resources portfolios between March 2020 and May 2021.

The former prime minister has now explained himself in a 1200-word response on Facebook.

"In hindsight these arrangements were unnecessary," he said of the treasury and home affairs portfolios.

"For any offence to my colleagues I apologise."

Morrison said the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis required an "unprecedented policy response".

"The risk of ministers becoming incapacitated, sick, hospitalised, incapable of doing their work at a critical hour or even fatality was very real," he wrote.

His response comes as former home affairs minister Karen Andrews called on Morrison, the MP for the Sydney seat of Cook, to resign from parliament.

"The Australian people have been let down, they have been betrayed," she said.

Albanese is awaiting advice from the solicitor-general on whether Mr Morrison's actions have any legal repercussions. 

2. Man charged with QLD woman's murder after body found in the bush.

The boyfriend of a 44-year-old woman found dead in North Queensland has been charged with the mother-of-four's murder.

The woman's body was discovered by teenagers on quad bikes in bushland at Bluewater in Townsville on Saturday.

The Deeragun man was charged with one count of murder (domestic violence offence) on Tuesday, police said.

Police have charged a Deeragun man with the murder of a 44-year-old Townsville woman whose body was located in Bluewater on Saturday, August 13.https://t.co/gsvDchJlKZ pic.twitter.com/i6b8aLhLkr

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) August 16, 2022

Police believe the woman had recently moved to the area and the relationship with the man was quite recent. 

The man was also charged over a separate incident, after police believe he discharged a shotgun into a passing vehicle travelling on the Bruce Highway about 11.30am on Sunday.

The 38-year-old was taken into custody without incident at a service station in Proserpine on Sunday evening and transferred to Mackay.

He will appear in the Mackay Magistrate's Court today.

3. SA woman detained after stabbing children. 

A woman who allegedly stabbed her two children on a motorway in Adelaide has faced court as police praised a man who intervened in the incident, declaring his actions prevented a far worse situation.

Police say the woman stopped her car on the North-South Motorway on Monday night and removed her two young boys before stabbing them both several times with a knife.

A member of the public stopped his car on the motorway and intervened, disarming the woman. He was assisted soon after by two other members of the public, who restrained the woman until police arrived.

Superintendent Selena Dinning said police were extremely grateful to the man and the other people who helped.

"If this man hadn't stopped, I'm sure the situation would have been much worse," Supt Dinning said.

She added it was not known what triggered the incident or where the woman was going.

Two critically injured children in hospital after being stabbed on a roadside in Adelaide's northern suburbs, allegedly by their own mother. @9JesseBurns #9News pic.twitter.com/IsRlUJHS28

— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) August 16, 2022

The two boys, aged eight and three, were taken to the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide where they were treated for critical injuries.

The eight-year-old had surgery on his wounds early on Tuesday and was expected to make a full recovery. His three-year-old brother was also expected to be operated on with his condition described as stable.

Their 35-year-old mother was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital where she underwent a medical assessment and later faced a bedside court hearing charged with two counts of attempted murder. Court documents showed she was remanded in custody to appear again in December, though her lawyers were granted leave to call on an earlier bail hearing.

4. WA to overhaul outdated equality laws. 

Western Australia's laws will be reformed to strengthen protections for LGBTQI people and remove an outdated caveat on sexual harassment complaints.

WA's Law Reform Commission has made more than 160 recommendations aimed at improving the state's anti-discrimination laws.

Yesterday, Attorney-General John Quigley said the McGowan government had broadly accepted most of the recommendations and would draft a new Equal Opportunity Act "to bring WA into line with the rest of the country".

Western Australia's anti-discrimination laws will be overhauled to provide stronger protections for women and #LGBTIQA+ communities, among other reforms. https://t.co/bYW1wMfta2

— Pride in Law (@prideinlaw) August 16, 2022

Planned reforms include strengthening equal opportunity protections for LGBTQI staff and students in religious schools, and new anti-vilification laws.

Members of parliament and their staff, judges, local government workers and volunteers will also be explicitly prohibited from engaging in sexual or racial harassment.

People who are trans, gender-diverse or non-binary will also be provided anti-discrimination protections without needing to be recognised by the Gender Reassignment Board.

"This is not about granting additional rights to any one group of people, but ensuring all Western Australians are free from discrimination, harassment, vilification and victimisation." said Quigley.

5. Rapper A$AP Rocky charged with assault with firearm.

A$AP Rocky, who welcomed a son with Rihanna earlier this year, has been charged with two felonies for pulling a gun on a former friend and firing in Hollywood last year.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged the 33-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers, with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

A$AP Rocky has been charged in Los Angeles with two felonies for allegedly pulling a gun on a former friend and firing twice in his direction, prosecutors say. Representatives of the rapper didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. https://t.co/UKYihok0jv

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 16, 2022

Prosecutors allege that during an argument on November 6, 2021, Mayers pointed the handgun at the victim, then in a subsequent confrontation drew the gun again and fired twice in the direction of the man, who suffered a minor injury. His name has not been released.

Mayers has not entered a plea to the charges. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.

Mayers and two other men fled the scene after he fired the gun, police said. He was first arrested for the incident at Los Angeles International Airport on April 20, and was released on bail the same day.

That's it, you're all up to speed.  

- With AAP.

Conversations about the dangers of toxic masculinity are not new, but recently a number of posts and videos have been circulating on social media of controversial influencer Andrew Tate, which have reignited the discussion in 2022.

Tate is a proponent of so-called 'real men', but what does that even mean in the present day, and why would any young man be attracted to his extreme views about misogyny and violence?

The Quicky speaks to an expert in gender and violence, and a relationships guru to find out why people are still interested in these outdated ideas, and just how dangerous this ideology is to young men and women.

READ: 

• What women were talking about on Tuesday
• What women were talking about on Monday

Feature Image: Instagram @elliagreen.