Breanna Stewart wants a safe space as transgender debate sparks rallies at Fever games
- Breanna Stewart believes the WNBA should remain an inclusive and safe space for all fans and players.
- Recent debates have emerged regarding the participation of transgender women in the WNBA.
- Rallies supporting and opposing transgender athletes took place outside Indiana Fever games.
- Sophie Cunningham of the Fever expressed her opposition to transgender girls and women competing in women's sports.
- The New York Liberty won the game against the Indiana Fever 109-102.
New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart has always seen the WNBA as an inclusive place that has served as a safe space for both its fans and the players. That’s been challenged lately. The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to participate in the league.
Although the league’s collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. There have been small rallies and protests outside Indiana Fever games after the issue came to a head when Sophie Cunningham of the Fever said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
There were a pair of peaceful rallies representing both sides of the transgender issue that took place before the Fever faced the New York Liberty on Saturday night. The Liberty won the game 109-102. “Knowing that rallies are happening on both sides shows the platform that the W has and the stunts for attention are just continuing to try and ride the wave that we have,” Stewart told a small group of reporters Saturday morning.
布雷安娜·斯图尔特希望在变性人辩论中创造安全空间
纽约自由队明星布雷安娜·斯图尔特一直认为WNBA是一个包容的地方，为球迷和球员提供了安全空间。然而，这一观点最近受到了挑战。WNBA近期成为了关于变性女性——那些在出生时被指定为男性并转变以符合其性别认同的人——是否应该被允许参与联赛的辩论的焦点。
尽管联赛的集体谈判协议规定WNBA限于女性，但并没有关于性别认同或出生时性别的更具体的语言。在印第安纳菲弗的比赛外，关于这一问题的小型集会和抗议活动相继举行，此前菲弗的索菲·坎宁汉姆在上个月发布的ESPN个人资料中表示她反对变性女孩和女性参加女子运动。
在菲弗与纽约自由队的比赛前，双方就变性问题举行了两场和平集会。自由队以109-102战胜菲弗。斯图尔特在周六早上对一小组记者表示：“知道双方都有集会发生，显示了WNBA的平台，以及这些吸引注意力的举动只是继续试图借助我们所拥有的浪潮。”