Recently, former WNBA player Val Whiting took a strong stance on the issue of transgender participation in women’s sports. Whiting made her remarks in response to the comments of University of South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley on the topic.
In Whitings’ statement, she acknowledged that her opinion on the matter contradicts much of the mainstream consensus surrounding the gender issue. She claimed that transgender athletes represent a safety threat to biological women and present an unfair advantage.
“A lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in women’s sports,” Whiting wrote. “It’s not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.”
Staley sparked controversy after a press conference where she was asked her opinion on transgender athletes competing against women. The head coach suggested that anyone identifying as a female should be granted the privilege of involvement in female athletics. “I’m of the opinion of, if you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion. You want me to go deeper?” she said.
Furthermore, Staley was explicitly asked if she thought transgender athletes should be allowed to participate in women’s college basketball. Staley answered, “Yes.” After the response, she acknowledged the inevitable backlash she would be met with on social media.
“That’s the question you want to ask, I’ll give you that. Yes, yes. So, now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m OK with that. I really am,” she added.
Following Staley’s comments, conservatives have railed against the Gamecocks coach in disappointment. For example, former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines sounded off on Staley, suggesting she caved into the pressure of being politically correct on the topic.
“If you watch the video, her silence, the hesitation and that drink of water, I think it spoke volumes. I think she knew she had to be politically correct, and I know about as good as anyone that that pressure exists and it’s real,” Gaines said.
Gaines added that Staley had a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to stand firm and give a defense of women’s sports, a cause the former NCAA swimmer has been dedicated to ever since competing against the controversial transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.
“The bottom line is she knows perfectly well that men’s basketball is a totally different sport than women’s basketball,” Gaines said. “That’s obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball, the sheer amount of layups in women’s basketball compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break in men’s basketball, the distance of the three-point line, the list goes on.” She continued, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her and she blew it, and truthfully, my guess is she’s okay with it until her team [is] defeated by one or more men playing on the opposite team.”
"*" indicates required fields