NBA star defends women’s sports: ‘Imagine if Kevin Durant put a wig on and joined the WNBA’

An NBA champion is speaking out on the unfairness of biologically male players joining women’s sports programs as transgender athletes, saying “if you’re born a man, you should play men’s sports.”

Former Sacramento Kings player Matt Barnes addressed the controversy of allowing transgender players to join sports teams based on their preferred gender rather than biological sex.

“Whatever you’re born…I think you should play in that space,” he said during an interview on VLADTV. “I’m pro ‘make your choice.’ Do you…but, you know, sports is different. Sports is a different beast.”

Barnes referenced University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas as an example of why transgender males should not compete in female sports. Thomas made history as the first transgender male to win a Division 1 national championship in March when the athlete dominated the women’s 500-yard freestyle competition.

“I don’t like that. If you’re born a woman, you should play women’s sports. If you’re born a man, you should play men’s sports. I think the sports thing is a little different,” Barnes said.

Host Vladimir Lyubovny, known as DJ Vlad, agreed, pointing out the stark discrepancy in Thomas’ performance on the men’s team versus his shutout competing against women. Many felt Thomas, who competed on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swim team for three consecutive years before joining the women’s team last season, stole the win from second-place swimmer Emma Weyant.

“You saw with the swimmer, ended up winning a championship on the women’s side, where, on the men’s side, he was ranked, like, No. 150,” the host said. “Imagine if Kevin Durant put on a wig and joined the WNBA. Like, what would happen? It’d be 100-0.”

Barnes said the policy of allowing biologically male players to compete against females undermines women’s sports.

“It would change the whole dynamic of the game,” Barnes said. “It’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed.”

Kim Jones, a former all-American tennis player, founded an advocacy group to protect women’s sports after her daughter was forced to compete against Thomas.

“Last year, my daughter had to race Lia Thomas in the Ivy League throughout the year,” Jones told Townhall. “And what I learned is that women are easily cast aside and told to be quiet when they face an injustice. It’s just not the world I’m willing to leave for my granddaughters. Women deserve respect, they deserve fair competition, they deserve equal access to opportunities relative to their male counterparts. I’m passionate about preserving that for the next group of women.”

Feminists were stymied by Thomas and questioned their politics following Thomas’ win.

“I was historically liberal. I would say I’m politically homeless now because I don’t think the Democrats care about women and girls,” said one activist during a protest against Thomas’ win at Georgia Tech University, the site of the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship.

“Feminism has become so muddied, much like the term Democrat has become so muddied. It’s practically lost all meaning,” said Amy E. Sousa, a self-described “radical feminist” and leader of the Save Women’s Sports group.

Not everyone agrees that biologically male players have an advantage and that “if you’re born a man, you should play men’s sports,” claiming the transition process would make competing against men impractical.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. If you've commented with us before, we'll need you to re-input your email address for this. The public will not see it and we do not share it.

Latest Articles