Two men with non-trivial NBA experience have decided to file for the WNBA draft, the rules of which apparently permit them to do so. Neither is overtly transsexual.
This creates a fascinating dilemma for the women’s league. Either (a) take a stand for keeping biological males out of women’s sports, or (b) a stand for transsexual rights.
Knowing nothing but the names of the two leagues, you’d suppose choice (a) would be automatic. Knowing what we know about the WNBA, many of its players are strong supporters of LGBTQ+ rights. This means their bias favors men who identify as women being able to do whatever biological women are able to do, to the greatest extent possible, including play pro basketball.
However, if the league is open to XY players, it is likely it could become dominated by taller, heavier biological males. Actual XX players will be to varying degrees marginalized or left off rosters.
The conflict is between LGBTQ+ rights and economic self interest. It will be fascinating to see how the WNBA navigates this maze when many players simultaneously hold membership in two groups with opposing interests.
I can imagine a (admittedly unlikely) future in which most WNBA players are XY but required to cosplay XX, like classical Japanese kabuki drama in which all roles are played by XY men. It will be interesting to see this conflict of interest unfold.
