'Not fair nor safe': Ex-WNBA player says solution is needed for transgender athletes besides competing against women

Former WNBA player Val Whiting asked for a new solution for transgender athletes to compete in athletics that doesn't involve their participation in women's sports.

The 52-year-old New Jersey native was a two-time national champion at Stanford University in 1990 and 1992. She went on to play in the first women's professional basketball league in the United States, the American Basketball League, until its closure in 1998. She then played in the WNBA until 2002.

Whiting has a history of making statements surrounding the protection of women's sports, including remarks made following the conclusion of the 2024 women's national championship.

"A lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in women’s sports. It’s not fair nor safe for biological women," Whiting wrote on X. "There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women."

Whiting's comments came on the heels of NCAA champion Coach Dawn Staley saying that transgender athletes should play against women.

Staley said that "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," she added.

Whiting has been taking a strong position on the topic in recent years.

She has plainly stated that "being pro-women’s sports is not anti-trans" and has supplemented her opinion with her faith.

"I’m Christian. I’m pro life. I believe in 2 genders. Trans women don’t belong in women’s sports. Marriage is between man and woman as God planned it. Drag queens definitely don’t belong in schools," she said in July 2023.

Whiting has stood up for women in many competitive settings, including when male chess players were beating women in their competitions.

"Standing up for female athletes is not misogyny or transphobia," Whiting declared. "But permitting males in female spaces and expecting female athletes to be ok with that is misogyny at its best. You have to hate women so much that you disregard their needs and put the needs of a male first."

The International Chess Federation banned men from competing in the women's category in August 2023.

The same day as Whiting's latest comments, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics voted unanimously to ban transgender athletes in sports.

While this was applauded by many, some critics argued that a sweeping ban for all sports, both individual and team-based, was not fair to transgender athletes.

Author Katie Barnes claimed on CNN that it remains unclear whether "transgender women have an advantage in all sports at all times," regardless of medical procedures.

"I don't think that scientific literature supports that, at this time," Barnes told host Jake Tapper.

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