Coaches of championship-winning college basketball, Dawn Staley, is acutely aware of the significant attention she and other Black women in sports are subject to. However, when questioned about her views on trans athletes competing in women’s sports, she refused to back down. She made it clear that transgender women should have the right to compete.
Black officials from LGBTQ+ campaigning organizations praised Staley for her support of transgender athletes and for her willingness to speak out while being aware of the risks she faces.
Her remarks at a press conference on April 6 occurred as state legislatures and sports governing bodies continue to impose anti-trans sports restrictions. A policy prohibiting transgender women from competing on women’s sports teams was approved just two days later by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which regulates athletics at about 240 small colleges and universities.
At the time of the news conference, Staley, head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks women’s staff and a four-time Olympic gold medalist, was a day apart from closing out a traditional work. She is the first Black instructor to get three Division I basketball names and the first Black manager to accomplish with an tournament time.
She was questioned about her support for transgender women athletes playing women’s sports in the midst of the final game.
“I’m of the opinion that if you’re a person, you may play,” Staley said in reply. You should be able to enjoy if you consider yourself a person and want to enjoy sports or vice versa. That’s my mind.”
The Fox-owned sports media outlet OutKick’s query to Staley appeared to be an effort to entice her into a contentious discussion that has been a fixation for some conservatives.
As Dawn processed the problem and took a sip of water, we were all catching our breath, according to Dr. David J. Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a group that promotes Black LGBTQ+ individuals.
Johns added that Staley’s description as “an extremely talented basketball player and an excessively completed basketball coach” should be able to carry her own, but that her race and gender will always have a significant impact on how she feels and feels.
The picture of Staley’s speech went viral and received applause and criticism. She was described as “stupid” by a commentator for OutKick and said she “could barely put two sentences together.”
Dawn Staley, the head manager of South Carolina, and Caitlin Clark, the head instructor and participant of the year for Iowa, take the stage during an AP NCAA Women’s Coach and Player of the Year ceremony in Cleveland. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)Being strong advocates who speak up is absolutely essential at a time when trans people are being mercilessly targeted with anti-trans legislation and language. And for someone to do it on a national level with all eyes on them, it is significant”, Jaymes Black, president and CEO of LGBTQ+ freedom nonprofit Family Equality, said in a media speech.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ+ plan, twenty-four states have laws on the books that prohibit transgender individuals from competing in sports in accordance with their gender identity. The majority of these rules specifically target school-going transgender girls and women. In response to complaints, temporary rulings issued by the courts prevent the Arizona, Idaho, West Virginia, and Utah from being enforced.
In response to its fresh plan, the NAIA, which awards scholarships and financial support to student athletes who attend generally personal colleges, does not monitor whether any of its almost 83,000 student athletes are transgender, a spokesperson told the Washington Post. Savannah College of Art and Design, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, and Indiana Tech are just a few of the participating schools in the NAIA.
All competitions and sports, aside from competitive cheer and dance, are open to all students, according to the organization, and the new policy applies to transgender student athletes. Only athletes who were born female can play in women’s sports under the new rules, and NAIA schools must notify the organization’s national office if a male transgender student athlete is receiving hormone therapy.
The NAIA is reportedly the first college sports organization to implement such a ban, according to reports from multiple outlets, including the Associated Press. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), in contrast, has adopted a gradual approach in response to Olympic sport requirements, which leaves the decision-making in the hands of the nation’s governing body for each sport.
In order to compete on women’s teams, the NCAA announced in 2022 that it would require female transgender student athletes to provide proof of testosterone suppression treatment. Beginning in August 2024, transgender student athletes will be required to provide documentation at least twice a year. The policy has been gradually expanded over the coming years.
The largest LGBTQ+ organization in the country, the Human Rights Campaign, founded by Kelley Robinson, said in a statement that Staley should be recognized for supporting transgender athletes’ inclusion in sports and that the NCAA should take her advice seriously.
Coach Staley is aware that the presence of trans athletes doesn’t diminish anyone else’s success, Robinson said, “At a time when too many public figures and organizations like the NAIA are stoking fear about transgender young people just trying to play.” The NCAA should learn from the playbook of fearmongers, not to copy it. Women’s sports needs resources and funding, not discrimination and division”.
Staley was aware that she would face opposition because she had already spoken up on the subject.
Staley challenged the media’s portrayals of her majority-Black team as “bullies” last year during the Final Four.
“We’re not bar fighters. We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters,” Staley said in April 2023. “Don’t judge us by the color of our skin. Judge us by how we approach the game,” she later added.
When she publicly criticized transgender athletes a year later, Staley said she anticipates irate responses.
“I’m okay with the crowd of people now flooding my timeline and distracting me from one of our game’s biggest days,” I said. I really am,” she said at the press conference, held on the eve of South Carolina’s championship game against the University of Iowa.
Lisa Bluder, the coach of the Iowa women’s basketball team, was also contacted by OutKick about transgender athletes. She responded by saying she wanted to concentrate on the championship game. According to Johns of the National Black Justice Coalition, the question was meant to stoke the public’s fury.
For women, and particularly Black women, the threat of scrutiny and harassment is greater. Backlash to Staley’s remarks included Republicans in Congress. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama portrayed Staley as an activist for her remarks in support of transgender student athletes, claiming that “she should be standing up for all those young girls, those young women she was coaching.” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina denounced Staley’s response as “absolute lunacy”.
The 19th’s editor-at-large Errin Haines and the sports journalist Jemele Hill discuss this harsh reality for Black women in sports in this week’s episode of The Amendment podcast.
Reese has received criticism for her outspokenness and behavior both on and off the court. One Los Angeles Times writer described Reese and her teammates, most of them Black, as “dirty debutantes” in a column. Since then, he has since offered an apology and altered the language
. Reese revealed in a press conference on April 1 how determined she was to remain resilient despite receiving death threats.
Against the backdrop of misogyny and racism Black women in sports encounter, in addition to an anti-trans political movement, Staley’s voice resonates in a powerful way, Black LGBTQ+ advocates said.
National LGBTQ+ Task Force Executive Director Kierra Johnson stated in a statement that “not only does that make her a leader we can all aspire to be like, but it also makes her a class act.”
Johnson claimed that Staley chose to respond to the question on one of the biggest days in history and that her support for transgender athletes corresponds with her coaching philosophy, letting her team “be who they are.”
“She has etched her legacy in the history books with her play, her coaching, her heart and her smarts,” Johnson said.
