Brianna Turner Refuses to Be a Pawn in the Trans Panic Around the WNBA

Brianna Turner has been fighting back against the targeting of transgender athletes long before the toxic discourse currently surrounding the WNBA. In 2023, she took to X to say that “people disguise their transphobia as caring for women’s athletics” and has even used her tunnel walk outfits to send a message of support for trans rights. When I talk to Turner on the phone earlier this week, the first question I ask is why she’s chosen to use her platform as a WNBA player to advocate for trans rights. Her answer is simple: she can see that trans people are a community marginalized by our government, and that her career as a professional female athlete is being exploited as an excuse to justify their mistreatment. “I hate being used as something to dismantle the rights of trans people,” she tells me.Turner isn’t an anomaly in the WNBA, one of if not the most outspoken professional sports leagues when it comes to advocacy around civil rights. In many ways, the WNBA has acted as proof that it’s possible for a pro sports league to be prestigious while still having teeth around social issues, raising the bar for other leagues to follow suit. Still, even among a league that’s so vocal, Turner stands out as not just forthright on issues she cares about, but one who is unafraid to name names and offer direct responses to politicians or political groups coming after oppressed communities. Earlier this year, when the International Olympic Committee announced a policy that effectively banned trans and intersex players from competing in Olympic games, Turner called out the IOC directly in an April USA Today op-ed for using athletes like her as a means to target trans players. The policy institutes sex-testing for every woman who wants to compete, creating an invasive and unnecessary barrier to both trans and cis women alike, ironically in the name of protecting women in sports. “Focusing on who should be allowed to call themselves a woman distracts from the s