The debate surrounding transgender athletes in women’s sports has found a high-profile voice in the basketball world weighing in. NBA legend Charles Barkley has now backed a petition calling on the WNBA to establish clearer eligibility rules and is standing behind Sophie Cunningham’s views on transgender players in women’s sport, drawing a response from a tennis legend.
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“I’m gonna keep this simple,” Barkley reportedly said, according to Nancy Hogshead-Makar on X, who is behind the petition, “Women deserve fair competition, and the @wnba should have clear female eligibility rules. That’s why I’m supporting @Hogshead3Au’s @Change petition. This shouldn’t be complicated.”
To this, tennis icon Martina Navratilova quoted the post, adding three thumbs-up emojis while writing, “Thank you Charles!!!”
Following a month of heated debate over Cunningham’s comments about trans athletes in women’s sports during an ESPN profile released on July 21, several high-profile figures have added their own opinions on the situation. Hogshead-Makar, a former Olympic swimming champion and three-time medalist, is a supporter of Cunningham’s sentiment and is now trying to gather support to pressure the league into updating its policy.
Her dissatisfaction stems from the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, which states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but doesn’t address gender identity. That’s why she’s seeking clearer eligibility criteria, as well as removing the possibility of transgender women playing in the league.
“The issue is not complicated. The WNBA exists for women and their fans,” her Change.org petition read. “Biological female athletes deserve clear rules that ensure fair competition and uphold the opportunities that women’s sports advocates have worked over decades to create and provide.”
For Barkley, too, this position isn’t new. On August 17, during a sit-down with Kentucky governor Andy Beshear on his podcast, he made it clear that he doesn’t think men should compete with women, and that it shouldn’t be controversial to say so.
“That shouldn’t even be controversial, that we should say a man should play a sport against a woman,” he said back then on the Andy Besheare Podcast. “I love gay people. I love transgender people. I’ve been outspoken for years on that subject. But under no circumstances do I think men should play against women.”
Navratilova has long held a similar opinion. More recently, during the debate sparked by Cunningham’s comments, she has firmly backed the Indiana Fever guard. When Australian presenter Chris De Silva criticized Cunningham on ABC, she fired back on X, exclaiming that she “is not the problem.”
This also wasn’t her first time sharing the petition, having previously done so on August 17. Right now, the webpage for the petition shows just over 10,000 signatures collected in support, and a banner showcasing that Barkley has endorsed the petition, bringing a lot of attention to the page.
Whether or not Barkley’s contribution to the petition will force the WNBA to react is left to be seen, but with the debate around Cunningham’s stance increasing in both intensity and scale, the involvement of prominent figures makes it clear that this isn’t stopping anytime soon.