I have wondered when the men would start speaking out. I figured when they did, they wouldn’t use “trans” language. They’d use reality-based language. It’s not “trans” that’s a threat to women sports, it’s men. And people like Charles Barkley and Steven A Smith have a wide audience and don’t mess around with “kindness” and “inclusion” wishy washy double speak. They say directly that no men should play in women’s sports or be in their locker rooms. They are allies. I can’t begin (as a mainstream liberal woman) to understand why all the women’s organization fell for “trans” like Planned Parenthood and NOW as well as young college-educated women and lesbians as you all addressed admirably. We needed a current woman athlete to step up. I thought it might be Serena Williams but Sophie did and kudos to her. The tide is turning though it will be a messy process.
Yes and I happen to have this Charles Barkley quote handy (edited it out of the story). No kidding about his not messing around with kindness and inclusion! :-)
“Men should not play sports against women. If anybody thinks that, I think they’re stupid. I support the gay community 100%. I support the transgender community 100%. But I do not, under any circumstances… think that men should play sports against women.”
Yes and Aryna Sabalenka and several other current top tennis players, who are getting polled by the media one by one now that the WTA started sex testing.
Let me point out the obvious: a person who is pro-trans, in its broad meaning, is definitionally homophobic. If you think lesbians--actual woman who are only actually attracted to actual women--should be forced to have men in their personal spaces, including their dating apps, you are homophobic. Full stop. Women fought forever to get Title IX and their own spaces, and now women are letting men into the tent to destroy these spaces. Read queer theory; destruction is the point.
There’s a lot here. I am not at all surprised by Keaton’s actions—my take is she spotted those girls and clocked them as conservatives (in Seattle that simply means put-together, fit, and not parroting the latest thing) and therefore Christian. This is truly an absence-of-theory-of-mind-for conservatives-problem on the left and I see it all the time now that I’m outside the bubble looking in. Keaton’s comments seem odd and as though she assumed this of them—even if she is herself religious. I may be wrong, I wasn’t there. But I’ve seen it play out a lot in my life.
Now imagine the exact same scenario only the girls are wearing headscarves.
As to the other coaches being able to spot a male coach threat from a mile away but not a player with balls from any distance on the court well, that’s below their pay grade, right? Like all the other women carrying water for this lie, they’re ideologically blinkered by a lifetime of believing nonsense things, partly looking out for their income, and partly signaling to the mob. It’s like all my neighbors who overnight plastered anti-Elon stickers all over their Teslas—they knew very well who was likely to be keying their cars.
As for the lesbian angle, I don’t think lesbians are more likely to stand up for other women and girls. Why do we assume this? That hasn’t been my experience and in fact I have always gotten more grief from lesbians and other women than men. Which sucks. (Not all lesbians, etc)
And I don’t automatically fault men and male athletes for watching this play out a bit from the sidelines—we have spent years yelling at them for everything under the sun so…? Truly a ‘who’s on first’ situation for a lot of them—most normies are still working out what exactly “trans woman” means. (Is she or isn’t he?) And holy cow are normal people gun-shy about everything since 2020.
Not in general, but for certain topics or moments everyone needs a friend who has similar experiences. That's what friendship is for.
It's extremely unhealthy to limit yourself just to your partner or one person in general.
Humans are social animals, men and women have biological needs that are different and feel different based on your sex, and then it's important and valuable to be able to form groups based around and concerning tjose needs.
It's not just limited to male and female, it's all kinds of things where sometimes you just need someone who once went through or currently goes through the same experience. To feel seen and heard.
People nowadays want to push that on media or celebrities, but that's of course nonsense.
This belongs in friendship and personal connections.
Men ate first and foremost human, and having friends who understand you is a human need. So of course, in certain situations a man also needs a friendly man to commiserate about things concerning the male experience that women may not fully get, even if they intellectually understand the importance.
Nothing can entirely beat first hand experience. No amount of empathy can entirely overcome a gap in possible personal experience.
The first time I understood that was when I drove my mum to a senior meeting, and I heard her talking about my father's death with other widows.
Of course I understood her grief to a degree, I had grieved my father too, but no matter how much I work on it, I can't fully understand the depth of a widow's grief for her husband. Looking at my husband whom I love dearly, I hope it'll take a very long time until I understand.
But those other women understood it, and I bet a widower would understand it too, and I could see their support did something for her we couldn't give her.
Then I reached premenopause, and I finally realised first hand how important it is to be able to talk about the changes in my body with other women who also experienced it.
My husband is a great listener, but all he can do is look it up and repeat what he found on the internet. This'll never reach the support, warmth and help I experienced talking about it with his mother or other older women who already went through menopause and understand those parts you can't fit into words. It can never fill the gap the loss of my mother left in that regard.
Sophie Cunningham is the right leader at the right time, speaking clearly and plainly for all to understand and get on board with what athletes have been wanting to say … that women are real, that men shouldn’t be in women’s sports & spaces.
… and the athletes following her lead … #Psyched #LetItRain
We do have a lesbian problem and we had it for quite a while, because large groups are indeed believing that being a lesbian is indeed a form of transcendence of womanhood.
Years ago I already had the first experience with lesbians accusing bisexual and heterosexual women to draw potential rapists into queer spaces, claiming that if perpetrators wouldn't expect to find available women in queer spaces, they wouldn't come.
There's a firm demand in queer spaces that hetero women stand as meat shields between them and men, because they're somehow responsible to keep hetero men satisfied.
This is so blatantly ignorant, that the later claims that trans women couldn't be rapists didn't come as a surprise. It also didn't surprise me when so many lesbians supported the idea that trans women rape other women solely based on trans exclusion, eroding the base of consent in favour of men.
It doesn't matter as what a woman indentifies or which sexuality she has. If she's a woman, perpetrators will seek her out and come sniffing.
Other women are not the reason why men rape women. They are not to blame for the actions of men. Lesbians who believe they're a special category of women above 'regular' women are part of the problem, and it took especially lesbians far too long to understand who the real enemy is and who their natural allies are.
I stood with my lesbian sisters all my life, but there was a very long stretch of time where lesbians didn't want to stand by me. I'm not stepping back, and every lesbian seeing the flaw in their previous alliances will still be welcome anytime, but we must speak about the fact that there was a time where lesbians thought that certain men were closer to them than other women who weren't strictly homosexual.
This is hard to understand - perhaps an age or culture gap. As a lifelong lesbian, I don't have any conflicts I know of with straight women (some of my best friends are...) and would never consider blaming them for anything related to men. But I hear your struggle - I think - and admire your own long allyship despite the conflicts. I hope you can unite to keep men out of female-only spaces.
It never was all lesbians, and I don't excuse my bad behaviour with those of others, so I will forever be an ally to every woman, no matter her sexuality.
I don't mean that as criticism of lesbians per se, but as a criticism of women overall, tending to categorise themselves and other women based on anything else besides being women.
I do also call out other women for not siding with lesbians because they have a different sexuality. Lesbian issues are women's issues, in the end it's forever connected, we must stand up for each other because men will never be better allies than other women who have on the base the same needs and interests.
I mean, I love my husband, he's a good man, but he's still a man, and when I want to talk about women's issues, I seek out my female friends first.
Not because he wouldn't listen or wouldn't want to help, but because in the end, a woman is always closer to my situation.
That doesn't mean I wouldn't talk to him about it or listen to what he has to say, hearing a different perspective is always valuable.
But it means accepting that parts of our realities are just different, and sometimes you need a sister at your side.
Yup! Sometimes you need a sister at your side indeed. :-) Thanks for being clear about that and offering your own sisterhood to lesbians over the years.
Mariah- I have been wondering for so long why the Gay community at large and specifically Lesbians do not call out this trans requirement to play in women’s athletics.
But I also understand that it takes a courageous person to not self-censor themselves with such an unhinged opponent.
Thanks Dan. Yes the pressure from the LGPTQ crowd is intense and unrelenting and crazy frankly. Detaching helps. And fortunately I’ve always had wider social circles. Also fortunately, there are lots of lesbians speaking up for women’s rights. Which has always been true. So Martina and I are by no means alone out here.
Check out this essay by UCLA sociologist Rogers Brubaker (Distinguished Professor of Sociology and UCLA Foundation Chair) who offers a dispassionate, persuasive LGB critique of transgenderism: https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/sex-strikes-back. Share it with the WNBA advocates centering "trans rights"!
It is a shame to see this, though heartening to see all the progress that has been made. We had dinner with a lesbian friend this week. A year ago or so, our friend, like most of our friends, had little to no information about what was happening in women's sports (or to women's rights and boundaries generally). Now, without any prompting, she advised she was not at all happy with the way LGB is being tied to TQ, that one has nothing to do with the other.
Which is to say, while we can't let down our guard, we are winning: we are winning because we have BOTH love and truth on our side and, importantly, because women like you and all at WSPWG have stood tall and have not wavered on either count. You are a constant inspiration to me and so many others. (And I hope the jellyfish move off shore so you can resume ocean swimming soon!)
Ah, Redwing, you are too kind. In this case, she really did come to this conclusion on her own. But of course I was ready to lend words of support once she did!
You are a constant inspiration to me too, Susan. As are most readers, lesbians, feminists, athletes, fans, thinkers, listeners. Writing is reciprocal; we writers need readers to "complete us," so to speak. Always good to hear your stories, thoughts. Thanks for writing.
It's jarring to have lesbians committed to centring trans advocacy and male athletes in a women's league. Eligibility for the WNBA in Collective Bargaining Agreement specifies that it is for women, but coaches and players (with honourable exception of Sophie Cunningham) have been giving TWAW inclusion spiels, or ducking the question with word salads.
Inclusion of male athletes in female sporting categories inevitably means exclusion for girls and women, but the tribalism of queer orthodoxy makes this truth unspeakable:
"But a league with a large population of queer players and fans has a different level of comfort when it comes to opinions that favor the exclusion of LGBTQ+ community members."
"The WNBA has an opportunity to show some leadership and take control of a conversation that is being overtaken by outside actors. While allowed, there is no reason for WNBA games to be the site of demonstrations that espouse anything but inclusion."
Jarring indeed. And infuriating. They have forgotten that lesbians are women. They have forgotten that women have rights. They have forgotten that they're leading "the W," as it is called, which stands for women.
What a weird, slanted take. "While allowed, there is no reason for WNBA games to be the site of demonstrations that espouse anything but inclusion"??? No reason the WNBA should not allow males? Baloney. The NYT fails women yet again.
The word "inclusion" is such a sick joke when it comes to trans. It's kinda like those happy seaside vacation scenes painted on the outside of railcars headed to Auschwitz.
"Inclusion" constitutes the not-so-slow, but very ugly, DEATH of women's sport.
‘Ahnaleigh lost to a boy in a Washington state track final at age fourteen and was told by adults that if he kills himself, it will be her fault.’
This is abhorrent.
Yup!
I have wondered when the men would start speaking out. I figured when they did, they wouldn’t use “trans” language. They’d use reality-based language. It’s not “trans” that’s a threat to women sports, it’s men. And people like Charles Barkley and Steven A Smith have a wide audience and don’t mess around with “kindness” and “inclusion” wishy washy double speak. They say directly that no men should play in women’s sports or be in their locker rooms. They are allies. I can’t begin (as a mainstream liberal woman) to understand why all the women’s organization fell for “trans” like Planned Parenthood and NOW as well as young college-educated women and lesbians as you all addressed admirably. We needed a current woman athlete to step up. I thought it might be Serena Williams but Sophie did and kudos to her. The tide is turning though it will be a messy process.
Yes and I happen to have this Charles Barkley quote handy (edited it out of the story). No kidding about his not messing around with kindness and inclusion! :-)
Back in 2025, NBA legend https://foxsportsradio.iheart.com/content/2025-05-09-charles-barkley-gives-strong-take-on-transgender-athletes-debate/was unequivocal:
“Men should not play sports against women. If anybody thinks that, I think they’re stupid. I support the gay community 100%. I support the transgender community 100%. But I do not, under any circumstances… think that men should play sports against women.”
Yes and Aryna Sabalenka and several other current top tennis players, who are getting polled by the media one by one now that the WTA started sex testing.
Let me point out the obvious: a person who is pro-trans, in its broad meaning, is definitionally homophobic. If you think lesbians--actual woman who are only actually attracted to actual women--should be forced to have men in their personal spaces, including their dating apps, you are homophobic. Full stop. Women fought forever to get Title IX and their own spaces, and now women are letting men into the tent to destroy these spaces. Read queer theory; destruction is the point.
There’s a lot here. I am not at all surprised by Keaton’s actions—my take is she spotted those girls and clocked them as conservatives (in Seattle that simply means put-together, fit, and not parroting the latest thing) and therefore Christian. This is truly an absence-of-theory-of-mind-for conservatives-problem on the left and I see it all the time now that I’m outside the bubble looking in. Keaton’s comments seem odd and as though she assumed this of them—even if she is herself religious. I may be wrong, I wasn’t there. But I’ve seen it play out a lot in my life.
Now imagine the exact same scenario only the girls are wearing headscarves.
As to the other coaches being able to spot a male coach threat from a mile away but not a player with balls from any distance on the court well, that’s below their pay grade, right? Like all the other women carrying water for this lie, they’re ideologically blinkered by a lifetime of believing nonsense things, partly looking out for their income, and partly signaling to the mob. It’s like all my neighbors who overnight plastered anti-Elon stickers all over their Teslas—they knew very well who was likely to be keying their cars.
As for the lesbian angle, I don’t think lesbians are more likely to stand up for other women and girls. Why do we assume this? That hasn’t been my experience and in fact I have always gotten more grief from lesbians and other women than men. Which sucks. (Not all lesbians, etc)
And I don’t automatically fault men and male athletes for watching this play out a bit from the sidelines—we have spent years yelling at them for everything under the sun so…? Truly a ‘who’s on first’ situation for a lot of them—most normies are still working out what exactly “trans woman” means. (Is she or isn’t he?) And holy cow are normal people gun-shy about everything since 2020.
Not in general, but for certain topics or moments everyone needs a friend who has similar experiences. That's what friendship is for.
It's extremely unhealthy to limit yourself just to your partner or one person in general.
Humans are social animals, men and women have biological needs that are different and feel different based on your sex, and then it's important and valuable to be able to form groups based around and concerning tjose needs.
It's not just limited to male and female, it's all kinds of things where sometimes you just need someone who once went through or currently goes through the same experience. To feel seen and heard.
People nowadays want to push that on media or celebrities, but that's of course nonsense.
This belongs in friendship and personal connections.
Men ate first and foremost human, and having friends who understand you is a human need. So of course, in certain situations a man also needs a friendly man to commiserate about things concerning the male experience that women may not fully get, even if they intellectually understand the importance.
Nothing can entirely beat first hand experience. No amount of empathy can entirely overcome a gap in possible personal experience.
The first time I understood that was when I drove my mum to a senior meeting, and I heard her talking about my father's death with other widows.
Of course I understood her grief to a degree, I had grieved my father too, but no matter how much I work on it, I can't fully understand the depth of a widow's grief for her husband. Looking at my husband whom I love dearly, I hope it'll take a very long time until I understand.
But those other women understood it, and I bet a widower would understand it too, and I could see their support did something for her we couldn't give her.
Then I reached premenopause, and I finally realised first hand how important it is to be able to talk about the changes in my body with other women who also experienced it.
My husband is a great listener, but all he can do is look it up and repeat what he found on the internet. This'll never reach the support, warmth and help I experienced talking about it with his mother or other older women who already went through menopause and understand those parts you can't fit into words. It can never fill the gap the loss of my mother left in that regard.
Sophie Cunningham is the right leader at the right time, speaking clearly and plainly for all to understand and get on board with what athletes have been wanting to say … that women are real, that men shouldn’t be in women’s sports & spaces.
… and the athletes following her lead … #Psyched #LetItRain
We do have a lesbian problem and we had it for quite a while, because large groups are indeed believing that being a lesbian is indeed a form of transcendence of womanhood.
Years ago I already had the first experience with lesbians accusing bisexual and heterosexual women to draw potential rapists into queer spaces, claiming that if perpetrators wouldn't expect to find available women in queer spaces, they wouldn't come.
There's a firm demand in queer spaces that hetero women stand as meat shields between them and men, because they're somehow responsible to keep hetero men satisfied.
This is so blatantly ignorant, that the later claims that trans women couldn't be rapists didn't come as a surprise. It also didn't surprise me when so many lesbians supported the idea that trans women rape other women solely based on trans exclusion, eroding the base of consent in favour of men.
It doesn't matter as what a woman indentifies or which sexuality she has. If she's a woman, perpetrators will seek her out and come sniffing.
Other women are not the reason why men rape women. They are not to blame for the actions of men. Lesbians who believe they're a special category of women above 'regular' women are part of the problem, and it took especially lesbians far too long to understand who the real enemy is and who their natural allies are.
I stood with my lesbian sisters all my life, but there was a very long stretch of time where lesbians didn't want to stand by me. I'm not stepping back, and every lesbian seeing the flaw in their previous alliances will still be welcome anytime, but we must speak about the fact that there was a time where lesbians thought that certain men were closer to them than other women who weren't strictly homosexual.
No. You?
This is hard to understand - perhaps an age or culture gap. As a lifelong lesbian, I don't have any conflicts I know of with straight women (some of my best friends are...) and would never consider blaming them for anything related to men. But I hear your struggle - I think - and admire your own long allyship despite the conflicts. I hope you can unite to keep men out of female-only spaces.
It never was all lesbians, and I don't excuse my bad behaviour with those of others, so I will forever be an ally to every woman, no matter her sexuality.
I don't mean that as criticism of lesbians per se, but as a criticism of women overall, tending to categorise themselves and other women based on anything else besides being women.
I do also call out other women for not siding with lesbians because they have a different sexuality. Lesbian issues are women's issues, in the end it's forever connected, we must stand up for each other because men will never be better allies than other women who have on the base the same needs and interests.
I mean, I love my husband, he's a good man, but he's still a man, and when I want to talk about women's issues, I seek out my female friends first.
Not because he wouldn't listen or wouldn't want to help, but because in the end, a woman is always closer to my situation.
That doesn't mean I wouldn't talk to him about it or listen to what he has to say, hearing a different perspective is always valuable.
But it means accepting that parts of our realities are just different, and sometimes you need a sister at your side.
Yup! Sometimes you need a sister at your side indeed. :-) Thanks for being clear about that and offering your own sisterhood to lesbians over the years.
Is that True for Men in general too, in your opinion? Men sit better with men, because they get each other in a way women don’t?
Is it true for you?
Mariah- I have been wondering for so long why the Gay community at large and specifically Lesbians do not call out this trans requirement to play in women’s athletics.
But I also understand that it takes a courageous person to not self-censor themselves with such an unhinged opponent.
You and Martina N are courageous!!!
Thanks Dan. Yes the pressure from the LGPTQ crowd is intense and unrelenting and crazy frankly. Detaching helps. And fortunately I’ve always had wider social circles. Also fortunately, there are lots of lesbians speaking up for women’s rights. Which has always been true. So Martina and I are by no means alone out here.
Love your analogy of, “ the emperor has no clothes” 😂😂 So very true !!
Black & white are now turning into grey in today’s world, so thank you for another well written article providing sanity for what should be obvious
Hi Brad, nice to hear from you. Thanks so much.
Check out this essay by UCLA sociologist Rogers Brubaker (Distinguished Professor of Sociology and UCLA Foundation Chair) who offers a dispassionate, persuasive LGB critique of transgenderism: https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/sex-strikes-back. Share it with the WNBA advocates centering "trans rights"!
Just skimmed but looks good; thanks.
It is a shame to see this, though heartening to see all the progress that has been made. We had dinner with a lesbian friend this week. A year ago or so, our friend, like most of our friends, had little to no information about what was happening in women's sports (or to women's rights and boundaries generally). Now, without any prompting, she advised she was not at all happy with the way LGB is being tied to TQ, that one has nothing to do with the other.
Which is to say, while we can't let down our guard, we are winning: we are winning because we have BOTH love and truth on our side and, importantly, because women like you and all at WSPWG have stood tall and have not wavered on either count. You are a constant inspiration to me and so many others. (And I hope the jellyfish move off shore so you can resume ocean swimming soon!)
That dinner with your friend Susan, gives me hope. Most likely her change if heart is due to your having planted the seed.
Ah, Redwing, you are too kind. In this case, she really did come to this conclusion on her own. But of course I was ready to lend words of support once she did!
Yes - and I'm seeing this too. People are figuring this out on their own, too, and fed up.
You are a constant inspiration to me too, Susan. As are most readers, lesbians, feminists, athletes, fans, thinkers, listeners. Writing is reciprocal; we writers need readers to "complete us," so to speak. Always good to hear your stories, thoughts. Thanks for writing.
It's jarring to have lesbians committed to centring trans advocacy and male athletes in a women's league. Eligibility for the WNBA in Collective Bargaining Agreement specifies that it is for women, but coaches and players (with honourable exception of Sophie Cunningham) have been giving TWAW inclusion spiels, or ducking the question with word salads.
Inclusion of male athletes in female sporting categories inevitably means exclusion for girls and women, but the tribalism of queer orthodoxy makes this truth unspeakable:
"But a league with a large population of queer players and fans has a different level of comfort when it comes to opinions that favor the exclusion of LGBTQ+ community members."
"The WNBA has an opportunity to show some leadership and take control of a conversation that is being overtaken by outside actors. While allowed, there is no reason for WNBA games to be the site of demonstrations that espouse anything but inclusion."
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7492126/2026/08/04/reeve-cunningham-transgender-comments-no-offseason/?unlocked_article_code=1.3FA.MnDU.3gZO6Jl1jQjF&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta
Jarring indeed. And infuriating. They have forgotten that lesbians are women. They have forgotten that women have rights. They have forgotten that they're leading "the W," as it is called, which stands for women.
What a weird, slanted take. "While allowed, there is no reason for WNBA games to be the site of demonstrations that espouse anything but inclusion"??? No reason the WNBA should not allow males? Baloney. The NYT fails women yet again.
The word "inclusion" is such a sick joke when it comes to trans. It's kinda like those happy seaside vacation scenes painted on the outside of railcars headed to Auschwitz.
"Inclusion" constitutes the not-so-slow, but very ugly, DEATH of women's sport.