The WNBA Must Reject Trans-Identifying Male Athletes to Preserve Women's Sports
Source: Sarah Kendis. "The Balls Are In The WNBA's Court." August 14, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that two male former NBA players declaring themselves women to join the WNBA exposes the absurdity of letting people self-identify their gender to gain access to women's spaces. She says the WNBA now has to choose: either accept these men as women (destroying the integrity of women's sports) or reject them (admitting that biological sex, not self-identification, is what actually defines who counts as a woman).
Conclusion
The WNBA should reject Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White (male former NBA players identifying as women) from its draft, thereby rejecting gender self-identification ideology and affirming that biological sex, not internal identity, determines eligibility for women's sports.
Premises
- Freedom and White are biologically male (evidenced by physique, facial hair, height, and decades of life lived as men) despite their recent self-declarations of being women.
- Gender self-identification ideology holds that internal identity claims are unquestionable and supersede biological/physical reality.
- If society accepts that biological males can be women simply by self-declaration, then obvious biological differences must be dismissed as irrelevant, which is a logical absurdity.
- The instinctive recognition that a 6'10" bearded man is not truly a woman proves that self-identification claims can be false, undermining the premise that all such claims must be trusted.
- Some on the left are already treating Freedom and White's claims as insincere or mockery, revealing an inconsistency: they accept other trans-identifying males as women but reject these two, exposing that even proponents of the ideology implicitly rely on standards beyond mere self-declaration.
- Female WNBA players and progressive critics remain silent or face harsher consequences for speaking out against male inclusion than male critics do, indicating the movement's practical effect is to silence women rather than protect trans rights.
- The WNBA has had years to establish a policy addressing this scenario but failed to do so, reflecting ideological overconfidence that this situation would not arise.
Assumptions
- Biological sex is a fixed, immutable, and objectively verifiable category that should determine eligibility for sex-segregated sports categories.
- Gender self-identification claims by these two individuals are insincere or opportunistic rather than genuine expressions of identity.
- The left's selective skepticism toward Freedom and White's claims (versus acceptance of other trans athletes) is evidence of ideological hypocrisy rather than legitimate case-by-case scrutiny.
- Physical and competitive advantages inherent to male physiology remain even after any gender transition claims, making inclusion in women's leagues inherently unfair.
- The core intent of transgender inclusion advocacy in sports is to undermine or harm women, rather than being a good-faith attempt to balance inclusion and fairness.
- There is no valid distinction between self-identification claims made by trans athletes generally and comedic/opportunistic claims made by Freedom and White specifically.