Willy De Bruyn, a Belgian cyclist, is honoured in today’s Doodle. He was born intersex on this day in 1914 in Erembodegem, Belgium, with a body that didn’t conform to the binary distinctions between male and female. De Bruyn’s parents had to register him as a boy or a girl because gender conventions were considerably stringent at this time. Despite being given the name Elvira and being assigned the gender female at birth, he began to have doubts about his assigned gender when he was a teenager.
He experienced childhood in his parents’ cafe, where he worked for some time subsequent to finishing school. During that time, he got cycling and come out on top in his most memorable race at 15 years old. He was regarded as a woman at this time, both socially and legally, and as a result, he became the female world champion cyclist in 1934 and 1936. But after a few years, he stopped competing against women because he didn’t like this competition set and his victories.
De Bruyn moved to Brussels and filled in as a dishwasher, sawmiller, and cook — occupations that were selective to men — however was terminated once individuals found his ID said “female.” He had been thinking about his intersex characteristics and gender identity for a long time at this point. He chose to formally have his orientation perceived as male, and brought a specialist’s declaration affirming he was a man to the court of Oudenaarde. The court at first denied the solicitation, yet after a year after much diligence with legal counselors and extra specialist’s notes, De Bruyn accepted his character card pronouncing him a man named Willy.
De Bruyn began racing with men because cycling still brought him joy. In 1938, he married fellow cyclist Clementine Juchters, and together they opened and ran a sports bar in Brussels called Bistro Denderleeuw for a long time prior to getting comfortable Antwerp.
Today, De Bruyn is associated with his physicality, his perseverance on the journey to becoming legally recognized as a man, and his battle for the acknowledgment of intersex people. In 2019, a road in Brussels was named after the cycling champion, the primary street in the city to be named after an intersex person.
Happy birthday, Willy De Bruyn!
