Steve Runquist

Enes Kanter Freedom Declares for the WNBA Draft to Challenge Its Transgender Athlete Rules — Piers Morgan Reacts Piers Morgan: I laughed out loud at the spectacle of female basketball stars haranguing you for wearing a shirt saying what a woman is. To me, it epitomised the farce around transgender women competing in women’s sport. What motivated you to get involved in such a toxic debate? Enes Kanter Freedom: I watch a lot of WNBA games. One player, Gabby Williams, said she had no problem with trans athletes playing on her team or against her. Then other players, coaches, and the league itself expressed similar views. I thought, “Enough is enough. If you have no problem with it, I’m declaring for the draft.” I read their collective bargaining agreement first. Article 13, Section 1A says that if you identify as a woman, you’re allowed to play. So I declared for the draft, and now the whole world is mad at me. Piers Morgan: They’re not respecting your right to identify as a woman, even though they demand that anybody else who does so must be respected. The UN reportedly found that nearly 1,000 women and girls across different levels of sport had lost medals to transgender athletes. Biological differences are why we separate men and women in sport. I also don’t understand why Megan Rapinoe attacked you as a grifter for supposedly protecting women when, in my view, you’re defending their rights to fairness and equality. Enes Kanter Freedom: I’m probably the tallest women’s rights activist in the world right now! This isn’t a left-wing or right-wing issue. It’s common sense, and I’m following their rules. If the WNBA adds the word “biological” before “woman” in its collective bargaining agreement, I’ll walk away, and they’ll never hear from me again. But if they don’t change the rules, I’m eligible to play because I can identify as a woman and compete in their league. All these coaches and players have been cheering for this, but now a man wants to identify as a woman, and suddenly he’s getting hate. Who are they to judge whose journey is real or not? I want to play basketball. If they introduce a rule against it, I’ll follow it immediately.