For #LGBThistorymonth I will be posting an #lgbtq #womaninhistory every day. Today is Renee Richards, a tennis player who became a transgender icon in 1977 when she won a lawsuit against the United States Tennis Association.

Richards started playing tennis at an early age, and at the height of her tennis career, she ranked 20th in the nation. In 1977, she sued the United States Tennis Association for its refusal to let her compete in the U.S. Open women’s division following gender reassignment surgery. In a landmark decision, the New York Supreme Court ruled in Richards’s favor.

In her first tennis tournament as a female, she reached the semifinals in the U.S. Open women’s doubles competition. In 2000, the U.S. Tennis Association inducted Richards into its Hall of Fame. Richards is a renowned eye surgeon and professor of ophthalmology at the New York University School of Medicine.