Sometimes satire exposes the folly of someone’s position more effectively than the most pointed argument. Just look at what’s happening in the WNBA.
On Sunday, former NBA center Enes Freedom attended a WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever. He wore a shirt that read, “Woman: noun. adult human female.” During the third quarter of the game, Sky guard Natasha Cloud started screaming at him. He stood up from his courtside seat, extended his arms and took one step forward. Security then kicked him out.
This isn’t going to be the last the WNBA hears from Freedom. This month, Freedom announced that he is a woman and declared his eligibility for the WNBA draft. There’s no doubt that Freedom would physically dominate WNBA players. He stands 6 feet 10 inches and weighed 250 pounds when he played in the NBA. It would be like Shaq playing against middle-school students.
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement says, “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” For the vast majority of human history, this would have made it obvious that Freedom isn’t eligible.
But leftists have decided that men who declare themselves to be women are women and must be treated as such. To not do so is discriminatory, they argue. This has led to a host of terrible outcomes. One of them is male criminals declaring themselves to be women and then raping female inmates.
The most high-profile examples of the absurdity of this position, however, come from sports. Think Lia Thomas going from a mediocre male swimmer to winning women’s NCAA events. In general, men are bigger, faster and stronger than women.
One might think that the WNBA — and especially WNBA players — would be particularly concerned about ensuring eligibility is based on biology, not self-identity. But you would be wrong.
“Hate, abuse and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division and harm,” the Women’s National Basketball Players Association said in a statement this month.
This isn’t a new stance. In 2022, the WNBPA said it “will fight for trans youth across the country.”
The very women who benefit directly from sex-segregated sports refuse to defend the principle that keeps them employed.
Conservative talk show host Clay Travis exposed this hypocrisy by offering the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces $10 million if they could beat a high school state champion boys’ team. On Sunday, he said he would give the Aces the money for beating a team of eighth-grade boys that he selected. The Aces have yet to take him up on his generous offer.
While the WNBA can ignore Travis, Freedom’s draft declaration is a much thornier problem. Allowing Freedom to play would make the absurdity of the left’s position on transgender athletes obvious to all. If he goes undrafted, he’ll have a strong legal case under New York’s civil rights law, which defines “gender identity” broadly.
The obvious solution to the league’s conundrum is to define the word “woman” — and Freedom put the definition on his shirt. But doing that would require the WNBA to reject the woke ideology that’s pervasive throughout the league.
For now, the WNBA will just pretend it has no idea what the “W” stands for. Enjoy the show.
Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow
@victorjoecks on X.
