As former NBA players White and Kanter declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft after claiming to be women, the WNBA convened a task force instead of making any concrete policy changes. For former Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner, this is a simple yes-or-no case: yes to biological women and no to biological males.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Speaking on Fox News Night, a video of which was shared on the network’s X page, Jenner was unsparing in her criticism of the WNBA’s vague and indecisive framework, and direct in her view of what the eligibility standard should be.
“XX you’re in. XY you’re out. It’s that simple. And I think you’re doing a good job just to show the WNBA the hypocrisy that’s going on here. We have to protect women’s sports. I have been coming on this show for years and years. I want to protect women’s sports. Title IX was one of the greatest pieces of legislation, and it was over 50 years ago, for women’s equality. It happened to be in sports. But look at what it’s done for women’s sports. I don’t want that to be ruined by letting biological men come in and play in women’s sports. XX you’re in. XY you’re out. You can go play with the men.”
According to Article XIII, Section 1(a) of the WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the eligibility rule states that “only players who are women are eligible to play.” However, it fails to account for gender identity and sex assigned at birth. This lack of specificity has now created a ‘loophole,’ which individuals like Freedom and White are using to protest against the league’s eligibility policies.
This transgender debate first started gaining traction when Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham publicly opposed the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, describing the exclusion of biological males from women’s competition as “common sense.” Her stance received significant backlash. Players, coaches, and fans across the league were divided in their support of the matter, while both pro and anti-Cunningham rallies followed the Fever to multiple road games.
With this context, White and Freedom’s declarations read like a deliberate provocation, a commentary on what they view as the league’s stance on inclusion. The WNBA has been pointed in its response as well, describing their actions as “bad-faith efforts” and denouncing the nature of the declarations.
For Caitlyn Jenner, none of this ambiguity is necessary. Men compete with men. Women compete with women. The line is drawn by biology, not by declaration. The fact that the WNBA, a league built entirely around protecting and celebrating women’s athletics, has not arrived at an equally simple and unambiguous policy, she argues, is the very definition of institutional hypocrisy.