This story originally appeared on Them.
Don’t let the Sophie Cunninghams of the world fool you: the WNBA is filled with players who have openly supported transgender inclusion in sports for years.
It should be no surprise that a league that has historically been early on for LGBTQ+ inclusion— and is currently 25% queer, according to our best estimates, and counting, including 45% of its All-Stars identify as LGBTQ+ — would include many players who have openly spoken out in defense of trans people. The W has long been a site of queer political organizing through visibility, lest history forget the Lesbians for Liberty kiss-in of 2002. In 2014, the WNBA became the first professional sports league to formally recognize Pride. It’s also important to note that despite conservative chatter, trans and nonbinary players are not new to the league. Though a trans woman has never played for the WNBA, as Layshia Clarendon became league’s first out transmasculine player in 2020.
Despite the WNBA’s longstanding queer legacy, over the last several weeks, the league has come under fire from transphobes who claim to care about women’s sports following Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s statements opposing trans inclusion in a July ESPN profile.
As the WNBA’s trans-inclusive policies continue to be the latest target of the right’s bad-faith attempts to strip trans people of our rights, let’s take some time away from all the noise and publicity stunts to highlight the players and coaches who have put their careers on the line and stuck their necks out for trans people.
Note: This list is ever-growing and includes retired players, current players, and WNBA coaches who have firmly advocated for trans rights and visibility in sports. If we’ve missed you or your favorite player, let us know!
Gabby Williams
Gabby Williams, the widely beloved Golden State Valkyries forward, spoke out in support of trans people in athletics during a post-practice interview on May 19.
“I think it’s trans, trans rights, right now, is our new battle,” Williams said. “We see trans people’s rights being stripped away from them; there’s a lot of discourse around trans athletes and what they can compete in.”
She continued, “I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team, anytime. I don’t think it’s a problem in the world. It’s just another way to kind of attack trans people. We’ve seen players like Layshia Clarendon, who stepped into that forefront, and have been brave enough, and courageous enough, to step up. So I guess that’s the next battle we have to fight as athletes.”
The interview has since been widely recirculated, especially as discourse surrounding trans inclusion in the WNBA has become a flashpoint in the battle for trans rights over the last few weeks.
Stefanie Dolson
As tensions mounted following Cunningham’s transphobic comments, her supporters took to organizing anti-trans protests outside of Fever games. Luckily, queer fans and players alike were not having it, including Seattle storm center Stefanie Dolson.
On July 28, the Storm posted photos to Instagram showing Dolson wearing a “TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS” tank top as part of her tunnel fit prior to the game against the Indiana Fever.
Natasha Cloud
Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud, named by this very publication as the 2025 “Papi of the Year,” has always been iconic. The WNBA fan favorite has built a huge fan base over the years, capturing the hearts of queer basketball fans everywhere. That’s why it's no surprise that when anti-trans protestors and trolls showed up to a game on her team’s home turf, Cloud stood on business.
But first, some backstory: Ex-NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom announced his intention to be drafted into the WNBA draft on August 7 and claimed he identified as a woman, which the WNBA referred to as a “bad-faith” move to impact the league’s policy on trans inclusion. In an escalation of what league sources have since called a “publicity stunt,” Freedom sat courtside at an August 23 Chicago Sun-Indiana Fever game wearing a popular genre of anti-trans shirt that reads, “woman” defining it as “adult female.” He posted a picture of himself in the T-shirt with the caption, “Careful what you wish for, @WNBA”
Freedom was eventually ejected from the game following his anti-trans trolling, which included a heated exchange with Cloud. After she shot and scored, Cloud confronted Freedom, which Sun coach Tyler Marsh praised.
“I talked to the team and Tash didn’t want to feel like she was a distraction, I told her she wasn’t,” Marsh said, per KOTA. “I told [her] that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected. And so Tash is always going to stand on that and we stand for Tash.”
The Chicago Sun guard later posted to social media, making her support for trans people abundantly clear.
“To every trans kids/person, You are a part of MY community & tribe,” she posted to Threads on August 24 following the Sunday game. “You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me.”
Layshia Clarendon
Layshia Clarendon, the WNBA's First Trans Athlete, Has Retired Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Retired trailblazer Layshia Clarendon became the first out transgender player in the league's history when they came out in 2020. They have been open about their support of other trans people, advocated for higher wages for WNBA players, and have continued pushing for trans inclusion in sports following their retirement in 2024.
“Existing outside of the binary for me is freedom,” Clarendon wrote in a 2020 Instagram post. “[...] I know that as Andrea Gibson says, my pronouns haven’t even been invented yet. I know that we all have masculinity and femininity inside of us and mine show up equally and wholly and fully… To the Trans Community, I see you, I love you, I love us. We are whole, we are enough, we are fucking badass. ❤️”
But being the first doesn’t come without its burdens. They recently opened up about the good and the bad of fighting for trans inclusion as the league’s first trans player in a July interview with Flame Bearers Media.
“I think it’s an honor to be a torch bearer. It’s also really hard and I think the hard is something a lot of people don’t talk about, and something I really openly want to shed more light on, of like, it comes at a cost and there’s a toll to being the first person hacking through the wilderness and to blaze a path where there is no path,” they said. “That comes with some scratches and bruises and some wounds, particularly some tough things around mental health.”
Napheesa Collier
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier has stood firmly against transphobia in sports over the years, publicly calling attention to the dangers of anti-trans legislation.
“Transgender inclusion is so crucial for the health, safety and wellbeing of transgender kids .... The NCAA has to take action and withdraw all athletic competition from states considering harmful and anti-transgender sports bills,” Collier said during a press conference in 2021, calling on the NCAA to take action against mounting anti-trans bills across the U.S.
Candace Parker
In 2020, WNBA legend and retiree Candace Parker joined 200 fellow athletes in signing a letter supporting the inclusion of trans women and girls in athletics, organized by the Women’s Sports Foundation. The letter was a reaction to a rise of proposed anti-trans sports bans that would prevent transgender players from participating in scholastic sports. Parker signed the letter alongside professional athletes like Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe as well as Billie Jean King.
“There is no place in any sport for discrimination of any kind,” Billie Jean King said in tandem with the letter. “I’m proud to support all transgender athletes who simply want the access and opportunity to compete in the sport they love. The global athletic community grows stronger when we welcome and champion all athletes – including LGBTQI+ athletes.”
Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner Is Finally Free Mike Mattina/Getty Images
WNBA legend and three-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner has repeatedly spoken up for trans inclusion in sports. As a public figure who has fought for queer rights, protested against the killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and generally used her platform to “try to make it not as tough for the next generation,” Griner has used uplifted trans people in sports.
In the first press conference she gave following her wrongful 10-month imprisonment in a Russian penal colony, Griner used the opportunity to support trans athletes.
“Everyone deserves the right to play,” Griner said. “I think it’s a crime to separate someone for any reason.”
AD Durr
AD Durr, second pick of the 2019 WNBA draft and 2017-18 ACC Player of the Year, came out as nonbinary in 2022. They played in the league for three active WNBA seasons between 2019 to 2023, taking a hiatus during that time after being diagnosed with long-COVID. Though their activism in support of trans people has been more about sharing their personal journey of coming out and navigating their nonbinary identity, it doesn’t make it any less powerful. After being diagnosed with long COVID in 2020, Durr decided to reintroduce themself to the world.
“I knew it was time to reintroduce myself to the world in the fall of 2021 when I started to work with my therapist,” they wrote for the official WNBA site in 2023. “We talked a lot about ‘Who am I?’ It really made me think about how I’ve always felt that I didn’t always want to be called ‘she’ or ‘her,’ but I never dug deep to really figure out why. So when she asked me that question, I realized I was just going with the flow of things in my personal life. I was like, “Wow.” It came naturally and wasn’t planned in how the conversation took place.
They continued, “Once that happened, I really understood, “Who cares if people don’t like that? Who cares if people think you’re different or weird? This is for your comfort.” That’s what really helped me turn a corner and know that it’s okay to be me, even if it’s not the same as everybody else.”
Sue Bird
The 2021 WNBA Season Will Be Queer Excellence in Action Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
WNBA legend Sue Bird has frequently used her platform to speak out in support of queer and trans people. In 2024, Bird became one of hundreds of professional athletes to sign a letter to the NCAA, urging them to reconsider guidelines regarding the testosterone levels of players aimed at excluding trans and intersex athletes from competing.
“To deny transgender athletes the fundamental right to be who they are, to access the sport they love, and to receive the proven mental and physical health benefits of sport goes against the very principles of the NCAA’s Constitution,” the letter reads.
Brianna Turner
Las Vegas Aces power forward Briana Turner has stood ten toes down in support of trans athletes on the court. In a USA Today op-ed published in April 2026, Turner wrote that anti-trans policies don’t help women in athletics; they put targets on the backs of already marginalized women.
“Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports. They manufacture a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports go unaddressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity,” Turner wrote.
Anneli Maley
Anneli Maley, who is currently signed to a developmental player contract with the New York Liberty, has shown support for trans people in sports, saying that people who push against trans athletes are actually the biggest threat to women’s sports.
“the biggest threat to women’s sport is not trans women, it’s actually men thinking that it’s trans women,” Maley said in a February 12 interview with ABC Sports.
Cheryl Reeve
Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve is a loud and proud advocate for trans inclusion in sports — and has only stepped her advocacy up in the weeks following mounting pressure on the league from conservative forces. Just over a week after Sophie Cunningham made her statements about trans people to ESPN, Reeve told reporters exactly where she stands.
“I come from a space of inclusion,” Reeve told reporters during a press conference on August 1, just a day before the Lynx were slated to play the Indiana Fever. “The narrative that I think is problematic is to suggest that transgender athletes are the biggest problem in women's sports. This is what’s bothersome. There is a faction of people in our country that are making this a massive issue.”
“We need to protect trans kids,” Reeve added during the presser. “To me, it's a human rights issue. Every kid has a right to sports.”
Natalie Nakase
Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase voiced her support of trans people during a pre-game press conference on August 2.
“Sports is about belonging. It’s about inclusivity. It’s about allowing everyone to be their authentic self,” she said. “You know, I’m big on that just because I have been criticized for my height, for my ethnicity. I’ve been in those: ‘You shouldn’t belong here’ [conversations] many times, and for me, I don’t want that space, especially Golden State, to ever feel like that. So I’m all about women, little girls deserving to play, and that includes trans women. So I’m all about inclusivity.”
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