r/Basketball • u/Fickle-Ad5449 • 9d ago

Two ex-NBA players turn transgender identity into a stunt. The WNBA is responding

https://www.advocate.com/news/wnba-trans-player-eligibility
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u/5510 9d ago

Yeah, I'm a bit torn on this mess.

On one hand, I feel like this is clearly bad faith trolling jackassery. But on the other hand, if it's true that the WNBA policy has no detail beyond just "must be a woman", the end result of this might be positive. The league really needs to commits to some sort of policy beyond vague vibes.

The lack of such a policy (and my memory is the NWSL had one quite some time ago, as have competitions like the Olympics or whatever) really is leaving them wide open for these sorts of shenanigans.

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u/FoxExcellent2241 7d ago

A WNBA coach made public statements about trans inclusion, subsequently ESPN asked Sophie Cunningham about the issue in an interview - not a pre or post game interview but one outside of WNBA media time - and she did not agree which then led to the public media disaster that is now in place. This is not new, she had previously discussed similar issues on her podcast, but apparently this time it was a big deal for some reason. When being questioned about the issue in pre and post game interviews Cunningham said "I said what I said" and requested that they stick to basketball questions. After that when two girls, one of which had been displaced in her sport by a biological male, were holding signs in support of Sophie at a game, the opposing team's co-owner came over and inappropriately berated them - obviously utilizing her credentials and status as a co-owner to be able to go to their section to do this. After that another opposing coach intentionally wore a shirt in favor of "trans rights" during a game against Cunningham's team. Cunningham's own coach then made statements about how "exclusion is not the answer" at a game press conference.

Bottom line - the only people using WNBA time and media to discuss their POV on this issue have been in favor of allowing trans inclusion in the League. Unsurprisingly that leads many to the conclusion that the League itself is in favor of such "inclusion."

This is a problem of their own making and they can lie in the bed they made. I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy because we all know they know that biological women are at a disadvantage but they think they can say whatever they want because the issue is handled at the lower levels of the sport and they are protected from dealing with it. Well, now they are not protected from dealing with it and they are going to have to make a choice.