SC Women's Basketball Coach Dawn Staley Takes A Stand For Trans Athletes

A Far-right content creator expected a different answer when he questioned South Carolina Basketball coach Dawn Staley about her views on transgender women playing in sports.

Coach Staley had just talked about the importance of focusing on her next game, the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, today against Iowa, when he asked his most pressing question. (18 miniutes in)

Coach Dawn Staley: I do think it will be a -- I hope it's the most watched game. I've been a part of witnessing from the outside looking, looking into the most watched game. It's going to be fun to hopefully be a part of it, like in the mix of things. I hope that everybody gets exactly what they want out of it, and I just hope the viewers, the people in attendance will take tomorrow's moment and carry it to the rest of the history of our sport.

Coach Dawn Staley: Hopefully we can keep the eyeballs and demand where it needs to be.

Right wing content creator: You just talked about what a massive weekend this is for women's basketball, women's sports in general. One of the major issues facing women's sports is the debate/discussion topic about transgender athletes, biological males in women's sports. I was wondering if you could tell me your position on that issue."

Coach Dawn Staley: Damn, you got deep on me, didn't you? I'm on the opinion of if you're a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That's my opinion. You want me to go deeper?

Right wing content creator: Do you think transgender women should be able to participate?

Coach Dawn Staley: That's the question you want to ask, I'll give you that. Yes, yes. So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I'm okay with that. I really am.

H/T Erin In The Morning

Kickout content creator DAN ZAKSHESKE reported on this exchange that he considers himself a feminist. But he said that he does not support transgender women competing in sports qualifying that by saying if the Olympics were 'gender neutral' men would win everything.

The Olympics have never been or will ever be "gender neutral" for that reason Dan. You chose to say that as hate click bait and possibly to scare her into silence. You failed.

IOC position is it "will not discriminate against an athlete who has qualified through their IF, on the basis of their gender identity and/or sex characteristics."

NBC also reported on South Carolina Basketball coach Dawn Staley's courageous stand against transphobia and faux feminism.

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder declined to answer the same question later on.

“I understand it’s a topic that people are interested in, but today my focus is on the game tomorrow, my players,” Bluder said. “It’s an important game we have tomorrow and that’s what I want to be here to talk about, but I know it’s an important issue for another time.”

The topic of transgender athletes in sports has become a hot-button wedge issue in recent years, despite the fact that as of 2023, only 34 trans athletes had openly competed in college sports, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. That comprises an infinitesimal amount of the more than 500,000 participants in NCAA athletics.

South Carolina Women's Basketball Coach Dawn Staley refuses to take the bait and Takes A Stand the day before the NCAA Championship supporting transgender Athletes "All women should play."

Related:

Iowa Judiciary committee halts latest attempt to strip civil Rights from transgender people

Screenshot One Iowa Action

The latest attempt by the state of Iowa to strip rights from transgender people failed Wednesday when the three-member House Judiciary subcommittee said they would not advance the bill.

If HF 2082 had passed the legislature Republican Governor Kim Reynolds indicated she would have signed it.

A tragedy of epic proportions averted at least temporarily.

If passed this would have marked the first time in American history that civil rights had been removed from a protected class of people. The bill would have regulated gender other than that assigned at birth as a disability under Iowa law.

Executive Director Cortney Reyes of One Iowa Action, an organization that aims to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ Iowans, released a statement on Thursday following the announcement of the subcommittee hearing.

"Once again, we find ourselves grappling with the disgraceful attempts by Iowa Republicans to strip fundamental rights away from a group of Iowans. The privilege of navigating daily life without the weight of discrimination might be taken for granted by those who’ve never faced it, but make no mistake. These protections are not just essential but non-negotiable. If this bill passes, transgender people will be able to be discriminated against in every way imaginable. Landlords will be able to deny them the ability to rent an apartment legally, banks will be able to legally deny them a car loan, and hotels will be able to turn them away, all for no other reason than because they are transgender. That is cruel, and it is wrong. We call on Iowa legislators, Iowa business leaders, and every Iowan with a moral compass to stand up against this harmful proposal. We are all created equal, and no group of Iowans should be relegated to second-class status. Every Iowan must stand against this blatant assault on equality."

The Iowa Civil Rights Act remeins intact still prohibiting discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, ancestry, disability and gender identity reports USA Today. Lawmakers added the protections for gender identity in 2007 when Democrats held the Iowa Legislature and governor's office.

Utah Anti-Trans Health Care Bill is Defeated: One down 47 to go

Sue Robbins(R), with the Transgender advisory Council at Equality Utah and Dr. Jennifer Plumb(L) had something to celebrate Friday with the defeat of one anti-trans bill.

The Utah House sent HB 92 a bill to deny trans youth legal healthcare, back to the Rules Committee, stopping it for this legislative session.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox has said he will veto the other bill which would deny transgender girls the opportunity to play on girls intramural sports teams.

  

However important this victory is these attacks on trans youth are perennial happening in nearly every state with a Republican majority.  What's more the bills are near carbon copies of legislature introduced in 20 other legislatures this year Doctor Jennifer Plumb, Attending Physician at University of Utah Health shared this on Sue Robbins' Facebook page

"Thank you to so many who stood up to protect health care for transgender youth. Thank you to the House HHS committee who did not allow this legislation to advance. And thank you to the brave, beautiful, brilliant big-hearted folks who make standing up with strength and support possible. To the transgender kiddos out there, know there is an actual fortress of folks surrounding you, valuing you, celebrating you and fighting for you. You are fiercely loved 🏳️‍⚧️

 

Equality Utah praised the failure of H.B. 92 on Friday, but Robbins believes transgender legislation, including the trans-female sports ban, will continue to be brought up.

“I think we will see this again because we have national organizations that are feeding these bills to the states and they’re not going to be deterred until they lose in the courts,” she said.

Robbins says several bills regarding transgender rights are being shopped around to state legislatures from groups including the Alliance Defending Freedom a designated LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

Bills in at least 20 states are targeting the transgender community in what LGBTQ advocates say is an organized assault by conservative groups.

On Thursday, NBC reports, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban transgender student athletes from joining teams that match their gender identity. The measure, which passed 65 to 26, also calls for withholding state funds from sporting events that allow athletes to play as anything other than their sex assigned at birth. The bill now heads to the state Senate.

The same day the North Dakota House passed its bill, the Mississippi state Senate passed its own athletic ban, which now goes to the state House for consideration. Georgia, Kansas, Utah and Tennessee advanced similar legislation last week, as well.

In 2020, legislators sponsored 20 bills to restrict transgender students’ participation in sports, according to the ACLU. At least as many have been introduced this year.

Bills driven by ‘centralized groups’

To date, the only trans sports bill to become law is Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt. Signed by Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, last March, it mandates that "biological sex" be the sole determining factor for inclusion on athletic teams at public schools and universities.

Ehardt worked with the Alliance Defending Freedom in crafting the measure, The Idaho Press reported. Founded in 1994 by Christian conservatives, the Arizona-based group has provided legal counsel for a variety of efforts to curtail LGBTQ rights, from defending gay-marriage bans to ensuring the right of businesses to refuse LGBTQ customers. Perhaps most notably, the ADF defended Jack Phillips, the owner of a Colorado bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, in his 2018 Supreme Court case over his refusal to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple.

Kate Oakley, state legislative director and attorney for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, told NBC News that a bill under review in Montana restricting transgender sports participation was also written by the ADF.

The ADF did not confirm that it wrote the Idaho bill or provided template wording for legislation to any state, but Matt Sharp, an attorney for the organization, told NBC News in an email, “As is typical practice for legal organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom is often asked by legislators to review possible legislation and offer advice.”

In February 2016, Sharp claimed “lawmakers in at least five states” had used the ADF’s model legislation to draft so-called bathroom bills, The Washington Post reported. Sharp also said the Alliance mailed template bills to “thousands” of school districts.

The ADF did not confirm that it wrote the Idaho bill or provided template wording for legislation to any state, but Matt Sharp, an attorney for the organization, told NBC News in an email, “As is typical practice for legal organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom is often asked by legislators to review possible legislation and offer advice.”

In February 2016, Sharp claimed “lawmakers in at least five states” had used the ADF’s model legislation to draft so-called bathroom bills, The Washington Post reported. Sharp also said the Alliance mailed template bills to “thousands” of school districts.

The ADF did not confirm that it wrote the Idaho bill or provided template wording for legislation to any state, but Matt Sharp, an attorney for the organization, told NBC News in an email, “As is typical practice for legal organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom is often asked by legislators to review possible legislation and offer advice.”

In February 2016, Sharp claimed “lawmakers in at least five states” had used the ADF’s model legislation to draft so-called bathroom bills, The Washington Post reported. Sharp also said the Alliance mailed template bills to “thousands” of school districts.

LGBTQ Nation takes a deep dive into the copycat legislation

“These bills are intended to look constituent-led, but we know it’s driven from these centralized groups,” Chase Strangio of the ACLU told NBC News. 

“Alliance Defending Freedom has on several occasions said that, should a state be sued for one of these pieces of anti-trans legislation, that they would be happy to take care of the litigation,” HRC’s Cathryn Oakley told The American Independent.

The work of these national organizations could explain why Republicans in so many states are trying to get these bills passed this year, even while openly admitting that they have no idea whether their legislation would address any complaints in their states.

For example, Mississippi Sen. Angela Hill (R) sponsored a bill that would ban transgender girls from competing in sports. During the debate on the bill, Republicans couldn’t even name a transgender student-athlete in the state and none of them even asked if there were any. Hill herself was only willing to say that “numerous coaches across the state” told her that “they are beginning to have some concerns of having to deal with this.”  

Chace appeared on the LGBTQ Nation podcast this week to discuss the anti-transgender legislation.

Heritage Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom, Eagle Forum, Twenty States 47 Boilerplate anti-trans bills: Check to see your if your state is pushing hate legislation at the National Center Transgender Equality.

IOWA It's NOT over! Please Call Legislators NOW!

URGENT!!! It's NOT OVER, call your Legislators NOW!!!
Right-wing extremists are resorting to underhanded tactics in an attempt to undermine legislative leadership and take away the freedom to marry! While legislative leadership stood firm this morning, extremists are attempting to overthrow the House chair and push an anti-marriage amendment to the floor!
We NEED you to call your Representative in the next hour to firm up our support! Find your Representative here, then place a call immediately.
House Switchboard: 515-281-3221
Tell them to stand firm with legislative leadership and oppose this distracting and divisive move. With all the challenges Iowa is facing, it's time for our elected officials to get back to work for Iowa families!
PS - If you don't have time to call, please email your legislator now!

VICTORY IN IOWA : court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Constitutional ban on same sex marriage is unconstitutional. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said that this ruling was not going to be contested meaning the ruling could go into effect in three weeks providing no other parties contest the decision.

The Iowa ruling could potentially have enormous effect on the pending California Supreme Court decision regarding same sex marriage. This finding took into consideration that human rights are afforded all people equally under constitutional guarantee and may not be removed by a popular vote or because a majority of the populations religious views demands it.

Iowa will become the third State to offer Gay Marriage following Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Lambda Legal has scheduled a news conference for Friday morning.

AP News release Iowa court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional

by Kelli Busey
April 03, 2009
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