The Trans Panic Surrounding the WNBA Has Radicalized Me. And Not in the Way You’d Think.

Sports It’s brought up three little words you’ll probably remember. By Enter your email to receive alerts for this author. Sign in or create an account to better manage your email preferences. Unsubscribe from email alerts Are you sure you want to unsubscribe from email alerts for Luke Winkie? Aug 26, 20265:45 AM Patrick Gorski/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. I probably don’t need to remind you that trans panic has become one of the most lucrative hustles within the greater right-wing media sphere. I’m guessing you’re also aware that the WNBA—as in, the top flight of women’s basketball in the United States—has emerged as the crucible for that front in the culture war … despite the fact that there are no trans women competing in the league, nor have there ever been in its 29-year history. But that hardly matters. We know by now that the debate about gender dysphoria and gendered athletics is completely detached from the conditions of our shared reality. Instead, this is a thought experiment that’s gone absolutely berserk, a cudgel to express bitter rage and confusion toward the existence of trans Americans in a way that has completely shattered the facade that these inquiries are rooted in a good-faith effort to “protect women’s sports”—which, to be clear, was never especially convincing in the first place. You know how I know this? Because Enes Kanter is now involved. Kanter was a mediocre professional basketball player who has been retired since 2022. At his peak, he averaged 14 points a game for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and throughout his career, he has happily attached himself to political zeitgeists—of all stripes—in a way that always managed to redirect attention toward himself. (Case in point: He changed his name to “Enes Kanter Freedom,” but forgive me if I go with the original syntax.) Kanter loudly protested the political oppression in his native Turkey; he did a number of empathetic sit-down interviews about the toll it takes to play power forward while fasting for Ramadan; there are videos of him marching at Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020; and he has criticized the NBA’s partnership with China, as well as the association’s feckless response to the Hong Kong protests in 2019. That last point is important, because it earned Kanter some traction on Fox News broadcasts. (There is nothing the Murdoch empire loves more than anyone willing to condemn LeBron James.) In that sense, it seems likely that Kanter’s seductive first brush with MAGAdom helped him ideate his latest adopted identity: the guardian and protector of women’s athletics from an alleged horde of trans interlopers—who, again, do not exist. In early August, Kanter “declared” for the 2027 WNBA draft by claiming to identify as a woman and loudly proclaiming the idea that if he were selected for a roster, he’d immediately become the best player in the sport. This was immediately understood to be a publicity stunt masquerading as activism by just about everyone in the WNBA, and even if a franchise took him seriously, it wasn’t immediately clear that Kanter passed the eligibility threshold as stated in the league’s collective-bargaining agreement. (Absent in the deal is any language adjudicating rules surrounding gender identity, gender assignment, X or Y chromosomes, genetic makeup, and so on.) Simultaneously, the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham—a basketball player with the aspirations of a podcaster, the saddest thing anyone could say about someone—has turned herself into the loudest voice in the WNBA advocating against the inclusion of trans athletes. It was a match made in heaven. Last Sunday, Kanter sat courtside at a game between the Fever and the Chicago Sky, asserting himself a huge Indiana fan while wearing a shirt printed with the dictionary definition of the word Woman. In the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud started jawing with Kanter, understandably annoyed that this clown show had come home to roost in her own arena. Kanter left his seat and actually stepped toward the court, a huge no-no, to continue the argument. He was escorted from the premises shortly afterward. (The following day, Kanter recounted his side of the story to—who else?—Laura Ingraham. He said that Cloud yelled to him that Cunningham “wasn’t going to sleep” with him. I think I might be a Sky fan now.) So it’s a mess. From a public-attention standpoint, we’re in the midst of one of the best WNBA seasons of all time. The league is loaded with talent—go watch the Minnesota Lynx!—but, predictably, all of these extratextual distractions have utterly dominated the narrative thanks to a couple of obsequious doofuses and their partners in the media. And that, my friends, has radicalized me, though maybe not in the way you might think. Remember the 2016 NFL season? When Colin Kaepernick started taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence? Remember how that provoked a right-wing freakout, all centered on the idea that Kaepernick needed to, and I quote, “stick to sports”? That the political commentary was encumbering their quiet enjoyment of Sunday Night Football? That athletes, analysts, and talking heads alike should focus on the games and nothing else? I would like to say, at long last, that all of those conservative agitators were totally, totally correct. I am now a stick-to-sports absolutist, and those same MAGA guys who couldn’t shut up about Kaepernick ought to be the first ones to toe the line. I need to reiterate this one more time: This eldritch fear and rancor about trans women playing professional basketball is entirely a right-wing media creation. There isn’t a trans player in the WNBA putting up gaudy stats and provoking a heavy conversation about the differences between biological sex and gender identity; the only reason we are not Sticking to Sports here is because Fox News doesn’t want us to. It would prefer to continue to use the WNBA as a conduit for this shabby and hateful campaign, hammering an illusive hypothetical over and over again, in order to mark a discreet minority for delegitimization and destruction. (It is telling, for instance, how rarely the question of trans men is pondered in these equations.) And frankly, after enduring this cruel obsession for so long, I am officially through the looking glass. Stick to sports! Some MAGA types might say I’m being hypocritical here. That surely I was all in for Kaepernick’s protests, which gained extra salience during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. No, man! That also got annoying and way too overheated! But that was never because of Kaepernick. Remember, he detailed the reasons for his kneeling only after a reporter asked him about the ritual. What followed was a strain of discourse that grew genuinely unhinged. Donald Trump started bird-dogging Kaepernick at rallies. When Nike filmed a commercial with him—after he was blackballed by the NFL, mind you—chuds destroyed their swoosh-laden socks in effigy. Perhaps someday the monolith of professional sports, America’s last monoculture, will be able to commingle with political action in a way that doesn’t make everyone lose their minds. But take a look at the state of our nation. We’re a long way from that. The Indiana Fever were actually in New York a few days ago. The team was playing the Liberty, just before the Enes Kanter incident. As is common now, a few right-wing organizers put together a demonstration outside the Barclays Center to express solidarity with Sophie Cunningham’s trans exclusion. Sportico reported from the scene. They had one question for the protesters: Could they name five WNBA players? The answer, across the board, was no. It sounds like someone needs to stick to sports. And for the first time in my life, I don’t mean the liberals. Basketball Sports Transgender LGBTQ+