Enes Kanter: The Controversy Around Transgender Women in Sports
On August 7th, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom (originally Enes Kanter but changed his last name to Freedom in 2021) declared for the April 2027 WNBA draft. His reasoning behind this declaration was to challenge the eligibility guidelines and self-identification policies regarding becoming a WNBA player.
This is not the first time someone publicly challenged the WNBA regarding transgender rights in sports. For example, many protests occurred around WNBA arenas on this issue, starting on July 29th.
Most of these protests and challenges started with the statement of Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who stated, “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sports who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” This sparked the controversy on social media, with some agreeing with her while others disagreed.
“I don’t think transgender women should be allowed in the WNBA. I feel like the WNBA should only be for biological women due to the advantages transgender women have over biological women during puberty,” said Myles Jean, a freshman at Barbara Goleman Senior High School.
While many took their complaints about the eligibility standards for the WNBA online, Enes Kanter took action. After declaring for the draft, he continued to make many posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) about his declaration in a manner that doesn’t explicitly say that he wants the WNBA to change its rules, but it is implied.
An example is a post he made on August 12th, saying, “The @WNBA says a woman is anyone who claims to be one. So if I say I’m a woman, you have to accept it. Those are the rules the #WNBA created. Why does anyone get to decide whose journey is real and whose isn’t? Who gets to judge? Rules are Rules!”
In his campaign, he rallied the support of another former NBA player, Royce White, who also declared for the WNBA draft publicly just hours after Enes Kanter’s declaration. However, he didn’t submit his paperwork until August 17th.
However, critics of this campaign argue that transgender women should be allowed in the league because the league is all about inclusivity and equality. A common instance they bring up is Layshia Clarendon, who is still to this day the only transgender and non-binary WNBA player.
When people say transgender women would have a greater advantage, therefore making the league unfair, the critics bring up Layshia Clarendon since the league was still fair while she was playing. She only averaged around 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists in her entire career, meaning she blended right in with the other women.
“I honestly don’t see a problem with Enes Kanter, or any other man joining the WNBA as long as they identify as a woman, because they are technically not breaking any rules,” said junior Keyon Jackson.
On August 24th, the WNBA made it clear that both Enes Kanter and Royce White were ineligible for the draft, calling their declarations publicity stunts. However, this still doesn’t put the debate to bed. In the future, many predict more draft declarations will emerge, and simply brushing them off as publicity stunts won’t be valid reasoning anymore. This problem is something that the WNBA needs to fix fast in order to keep the peace.
