Stewart Pushes for WNBA Safe Space Amid Transgender Rallies
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- Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty called on the WNBA to preserve its arenas as a "safe space," saying people are "trying to divide us as teams, but also as teammates or as opponents" amid rallies on both sides of the transgender debate outside Saturday's Fever-Liberty game.
- Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever said in an ESPN profile published last month that she opposes transgender girls and women competing in girls' and women's sports, and told reporters the attention has brought "a lot of new fans" to the WNBA.
- The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement restricts the league to women but contains no specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth, and no transgender woman has ever played in the league.
- WNBA security personnel asked at least three fans to cover shirts with messages about transgender women at last Sunday's Dream-Fever game in Atlanta; the league later said those fans should have been free to wear them.
- Stewart said "this league is incredibly inclusive" and emphasized that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but argued trying to divide teams and players shouldn't be tolerated.
- Stewart has previously been a public ally for the transgender community, donating royalties from a Harry Potter-themed signature shoe to The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention nonprofit, after facing online backlash over J.K. Rowling's anti-trans stance.
Why it matters: The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement restricts the league to women but contains zero specific language on gender identity, meaning any formal transgender policy would require renegotiating with the entire players' union — leaving stars like Stewart and Cunningham to define the league's culture publicly in the meantime, with the league already reversing itself on the Atlanta shirt incident.
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