The debate surrounding transgender athletes in women’s sports has put the WNBA in an increasingly uncomfortable position. While Sophie Cunningham has made her stance clear, her teammate Caitlin Clark has repeatedly maintained a neutral stance, where she wants to keep the “focus on basketball.” However, tennis legend Martina Navratilova has addressed the comments, believing that trying to keep everyone happy is no longer an option.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“Caitlin is trying to be neutral here, but you cannot be neutral when it comes to your sport; this is not some political issue. This is not some outsider issue,” Navratilova said during her appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “This is a basketball issue just as much as it was a tennis issue and it is every female sport issue. So I wish she would speak out because that would really help everybody else to speak out about it.”
“As I say, courage is contagious, and it shouldn’t take courage to be able to speak out about it… But Caitlin Clark’s been dealing with a lot of other c***, literally, so I don’t blame her for it. But I do wish that she would speak out.”
Caitlin Clark has constantly dealt with conversations around her evolving into unwanted discourse this season. Clark’s heated moments and coaching tensions have fueled unwanted discourse, making her reluctance to engage understandable.
Navratilova’s primary target is WNBA leadership, though she still urges Clark—one of the league’s biggest stars—to speak out. The 69-year-old shifted the focus toward WNBA leadership and commissioner Cathy Engelbert when Morgan asked what she would want Caitlin Clark to say if she did speak out on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show.
“Most of all – I would like the commissioner to speak out – the head of the WNBA. Maybe they feel that she feels that males should be allowed. But again it’s the women’s league, and I just wish she would say it’s about the girls and the women, and we deserve a fair fight.”
“We’ve fought so hard and so long to get our own sports and our own competitions. In track and field, women couldn’t run a marathon in the Olympics until 1984 because we weren’t deemed strong enough to run the marathon. We fought so hard to get to this, and now we men want in on it. I don’t think so.”
For now, Navratilova’s call has left the WNBA with an uncomfortable question hanging over it. Caitlin Clark has chosen to leave the issue to the leagues and governing bodies, while the league itself is yet to make its stance on the matter clear. And with former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom declaring for the WNBA Draft, the conversation surrounding trans athletes in women’s sports is only set to become more complicated.