There are some months in the WNBA, a player decided to begin a transition to become a man, while remaining in this women’s league. A case that could be more and more common in the future and that raises many questions. A former Lakers has also spoken on the subject.
This is a question that should be at the heart of many debates in the years to come: how to consider trans athletes in sport? A few months ago, a big controversy arose across the Atlantic, when a swimmer who had just changed sex became NCAA women’s swimming champion. Some spoke of injustice, others of evolution, but one thing is certain: the debates were heated.
The question can also arise in more dangerous disciplines, where the health of the athletes could be jeopardized. In MMA, a fighter born male, for example, terrorizes her opponents, since she has already broken several skulls with her fists… More and more people are starting a transition, all the major leagues should be concerned by these issues.
Matt Barnes against league changes for trans athletes
But what about basketball? Could transsexual athletes win the NBA or WNBA? Could they move from one league to another in the event of a transition during their career? Matt Barnes, former Lakers, spoke about it on the YouTube channel VLAD TV, and his opinion did not fail to react to Internet users. For him, going from a men’s league to a women’s league should not be possible.
I’m all for everyone being able to choose their gender or sex, but sports is a different field. That’s another matter, really. I don’t like the fact that we can change opponents like that. If you were born a woman, you have to play with women all the time. If you were born a man, you must stay in men’s competitions.
For Matt Barnes, all people born male should measure up and play with males, even after a gender transition. No matter how a person feels, it would therefore be the natural athletic abilities that should take precedence. Some Internet users agreed with the NBA champion’s analysis, others opposed it… and a third category went even further, with a specific proposal:
Trans people should have their own leagues and teams. Thats why its fair and equal.
— Back2Back SZN (@Curry4daW) October 27, 2022
Trans people should have their own leagues and their own teams. It would be more fair and egalitarian.
If the question still seems superficial today, it could become more important in the years to come, when athletes finally dare to begin transitions. Almost every major league will have to rule on the place of transgender talent, without compromising the inherent fairness of the sport. An entire program.
