Teenager Makani Tran was disqualified from a Pokémon Trading Card Game tournament after appearing to laugh when asked for his pronouns by a judge, Fox News reported.
In a social media post by Tran, the teen explained that he made the judge of the sixth round uncomfortable when he hesitated and then laughed following a question regarding what pronouns he uses.
"On our way over to the stream area, the judge asked us for our preferred pronouns. I said, 'Um he or him or uh,' and I paused, trying to think of the third pronoun (the third pronoun being his). As I just stood there looking stupid trying to think of the third pronoun, I felt embarrassed because I was failing to think of a simple word," Tran said.
"Due to the nerves and me being embarrassed, I let out a little laugh — just a normal nervous laugh. My response together ended up being 'Um he or him or uhhhh haha his,'" he added.
Later on, when the judge asked Tran and player Alex Schemanske for their pronouns, Tran laughed nervously once more.
After the second instance, Tran said he was confronted by the head judge and told that he was disqualified due to the tournament's policy.
"The amount of frustration I felt and still feel is just insane," Tran continued, saying that while the judge "believed that I had no bad intentions, it didn't matter; because at the end of the day, someone was offended and upset."
The Pokémon Company and tournament host Overload Events did not respond to Fox's request for comment.
However, Pokémon tournament judge Will Post responded to the story in a now-deleted tweet, condemning calls to fire the judge or post their personal information online.
"Whether you agree/disagree with a ruling, a Pokémon judge should not have to worry about people coming to [the] workplace over a call they were involved with at a Pokémon tournament," Post wrote.
A GoFundMe has been created for Tran by his supporters and has raised nearly double the initial $1,500 asked.
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