WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has despatched a memo to groups that addresses ongoing discussions round transgender athletes in girls’s basketball.
“I do know a lot of you could have acquired questions in latest weeks concerning transgender athlete participation in girls’s basketball, and I anticipate this matter will proceed to obtain vital consideration,” Engelbert wrote within the memo, which was despatched Friday afternoon and obtained by The Related Press. “I wished to achieve out to share how we’re approaching these conversations on the league workplace and to thank these of you who’ve responded to questions from the media with thoughtfulness and professionalism.”
The memo stated the subject might be mentioned additional by a activity pressure of workforce presidents and basic managers at a beforehand scheduled assembly subsequent week.
In an ESPN article revealed final month, Indiana Fever participant Sophie Cunningham voiced assist for barring transgender women and girls from ladies’ and ladies’s sports activities. Cunningham’s feedback sparked small rallies and protests in Seattle and Portland when the Fever had been on the highway final week.
There was a lone protester on the Fever’s dwelling sport towards Las Vegas on Thursday night time. Indiana visits Chicago on Saturday. Members of two conservative teams are planning a rally in assist of Cunningham forward of that sport.
The league hasn’t made any public feedback on the problem.
Engelbert wrote that the league will “all the time method this matter thoughtfully, respectfully, and in alignment with the longstanding values of our league. Second, our participant eligibility guidelines, not like the eligibility guidelines of another leagues and governing our bodies, are collectively bargained. Lastly, preserving the integrity of our sport and making certain honest competitors will all the time stay among the many league’s highest priorities.”
The league’s collective bargaining settlement states that “solely gamers who’re girls are eligible to play within the WNBA,” but it surely doesn’t embody any extra particular language about gender identification or intercourse assigned at beginning. On Friday, two former NBA gamers, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft, saying they establish as girls.
“We acknowledge that it is a complicated and nuanced matter, and we’ll proceed to have necessary conversations with all of you and the Gamers Affiliation within the weeks and months forward,” Engelbert stated within the memo. “We additionally plan to convene further discussions and provide listening classes for any workforce leaders who want to take part. Your views and suggestions are invaluable, and I recognize those that have already reached out to share their ideas.”
The WNBA gamers’ affiliation launched a press release on social media Friday that emphasised range and inclusion whereas saying the group “won’t be used as political pawns.”
“We embrace justice fairness, range, and inclusion,” the assertion learn. “These are the values that unite this Union and permit it to guard girls’s sports activities whereas creating transformational change. Hate, abuse, and demonization of any individual or group of individuals, together with transgender individuals, solely gas worry, division, and hurt. We are going to proceed to have exhausting conversations. However we won’t be used as political pawns.”
Some WNBA gamers and coaches have come out in assist of transgender athletes, together with Seattle Storm middle Stefanie Dolson and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve.
“We have to defend trans children,” Reeve stated on Aug. 1. “To me, it’s a human rights concern. Each child has a proper to sports activities.”
Related Press Basketball Author Doug Feinberg contributed to this report through AP Newsroom.
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