WNBPA: ‘We will not be pawns’ in political conversation

As discussion surrounding transgender athletes and whether they should be allowed to compete in women’s sports continues to run rampant, the WNBA Player’s Association put out a statement which made its stance on the matter known.

“The WNBPA represents 200+ individual people with different lived experiences, cultures, lifestyles and opinions. We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion,” the statement started. “Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women’s sports while creating transformational change. Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm.

“We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns.”

This topic, as it relates to the WNBA, ramped up in July when Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham shared her opinions while being interviewed for an ESPN story, relaying that she doesn’t believe transgender women should be allowed to play women’s sports.

“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham told ESPN. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

A number of political figures, including President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, have since shared support for Cunningham’s comments.

Many within the WNBA, though, do not agree with Cunningham. Her own coach with Indiana, Stephanie White, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve and 2026 All-Star Gabby Williams all have shared public comments welcoming inclusivity to the WNBA.

“There’s a lot of discourse around trans athletes and what they can compete in,” Williams said on Thursday. I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team any time. I don’t think it’s a problem in the world. It’s just another way to kind of attack trans people.”

“Support the players. Support the fans,” the WNBPA statement continued. “At games, notify security if you witness hateful, violent, or abusive behavior. Online, report abusive posts and drown out the bots and bad actors. At home, tell your elected officials to strengthen Title IX.”

Basketball isn’t the only sport sorting out how to address this much-discussed topic going forward. Reuters reported earlier this week that the Women’s Tennis Association has changed its eligibility policy and will require all of its competitors to undergo a one-time test of the SRY gene to determine eligibility.

The previous WTA policy allowed transgender women to compete as long as their testosterone level was below a particular threshold for more than two years.

–Field Level Media