The trans women in sports panic is nothing but a stalking horse for permitting violence against trans people—and we should celebrate players like Natasha Cloud who say so.
Former basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom and Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky confront each other during a Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever game on August 23, 2026 in Chicago.(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Enes Kanter was a mediocre NBA player who, in 2020, attracted more attention than he ever received on the court by decrying the Black Lives Matter movement and pushing to “get politics out of sports.” A year later, to celebrate becoming a US citizen, he legally changed his name to “Enes Kanter Freedom.”
But when it came to the performance art of being a right wing talking head, Kanter had no game. Kanter’s off-court microphone skills, it seemed, were about as good as his on-court defense, and he was quickly cycled off of the Fox News gravy train. In 2024, he tried on a new persona of “former NBA player who supports the Israeli genocide on Gaza.” When the hype around that hot take waned, he became once again an ex-player without a team or any prospects of relevance.
Now Kanter has finally found a way to satisfy both his personal pathologies and attention-dopamine addiction—by claiming (with a smirk) that he is now a trans woman and demanding a roster spot in the WNBA.
Then, this past Sunday, Kanter pushed it even further, making a spectacle of himself at a WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever by wearing a shirt that read “WOMAN: Noun, adult human female.” The stunt prompted Sky vet Natasha Cloud to confront him from the court. When he rose from his seat and approached her with his arms outstretched, escalating the conflict, he was removed. As he was ushered out, he put his arms behind his back, as though he was being handcuffed. Later, he said, again with a proud smirk, he was removed from a WNBA game for “supporting women.”
After the game, Natasha Cloud posted on Threads: “To every trans kid/person, you are apart of MY community & tribe. You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me.”
Cloud has shown more courage and backbone than the WNBA executives that have let their league become an avatar for anti-trans bigots. Not coincidentally, Cloud has also been a consistent voice for the Palestinian people and for Black lives. She also can actually articulate why she holds those beliefs. In other words, she is the opposite of a talentless, attention-seeking hack.
The less said about Kanter and the whole crowd that says they are “protecting women” while deifying a sexual abuser and alleged pederast in the Oval Office the better. Their arguments are meant to sow division through distraction, all of it built on a foundation of deep-rooted misogyny.
As ESPN’s Mina Kimes posted: “Loser behavior from a guy who’s clinging like a shriveled old barnacle to a sport he doesn’t actually care about in a desperate bid for relevance. Do not cede one inch to him or anyone who acts this way.” But while these individuals deserve none of the attention they so desperately crave, Kimes is correct that we nevertheless cannot give them an inch. There is no “trans invasion” of the WNBA—that simply doesn’t exist. What does exist, however, is the ongoing, relentless attack on trans kids and trans people in all parts of life, promulgated through a coordinated, well funded, and highly organized campaign, of which Kanter is merely a grateful shill. The only danger in the WNBA right now is of picking the unlucky seat in the stands next to some YouTube influencer comfortable with fascist violence and desperate to create a viral moment.
Fox News is now egging on every right-wing “influencer” like Kanter to turn their sights on a league in which they previously showed little notice. Murdoch’s state media isn’t interested in Iran, the economy, or Trump’s deeply weird relationship with his aide Natalie Harp—instead, according to Media Matters, since July 22, Fox has “dedicated at least 130 segments to discussing the possibility of trans athletes in the WNBA.”
Before all this became the outrage du jour, Fox was mostly attacking the WNBA on racist grounds, claiming white players—really, the only two they ever heard of, Indiana Fever players Caitlin Clark and her anti-trans, relentlessly mediocre teammate Sophie Cunningham—were getting fouled too hard by Black women. They egged on politicians and their fascist-minded followers, who—it must be reemphasized—have never before given a damn about women’s sports other than a desire to overturn Title IX. Now they’re suddenly on a mission to “protect” white players. But none of this is new: The WNBA has long been a right wing target. That’s because it’s queer friendly, its stars are mostly Black women, and its players have historically been some of the most outspoken public figures against the racist, sexist, and homophobic aims of these fascists. It’s important we don’t neglect that part of the story.
As hundreds of millions of dollars in broadcast revenue pours into the league’s coffers, its executives are fecklessly going along with marching orders to “offend” as few people as possible. But now they need to stand with their fans, who long have seen WNBA games as a queer friendly space.
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In fact, last week in Brooklyn, hundreds of transgender activists and activists showed up at the Barclays Center during a New York Liberty game against the Indiana Fever to confront about 50 members of the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, who were there to protest the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports. (Suffice it to say, TPUSA does not have a Brooklyn chapter.) The counter-rally was massive, inspiring, and a sign that popular opinion about this issue is not necessarily what the media would have you believe.
The right thinks they have their wedge issue. They think that by attacking the WNBA, and by attacking trans people, they get to pile onto two of their favorite targets to produce division and distraction in a country openly devolving into disastrous decay.
But given the masses of people at the Brooklyn counter-rally and the outpouring of support for Natasha Cloud, their bigotry is also provoking the opposite reaction. These figures on the right are being exposed as the losers, con-artists, and social parasites that they are. It’s clear that they care nothing about women’s sports.
No, their goal goes way beyond sports. It’s about eradicating trans people—not just from public life, but life altogether. This is obvious. It’s all out in the open. And until commentators are willing to admit that the WNBA panic is nothing but a stalking horse for the fascist elimination of trans lives, we’re going to keep seeing more pathetic charlatans sprout up like an unwanted fungus.
Dave ZirinDave Zirin is the sports editor at The Nation. He is the author of 11 books on the politics of sports. He is the author of a new book, The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.