People hold signs and point after comments made by Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham on transgender athletes before a WNBA basketball game between the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) My first job after leaving the Marines was to work with the Ohio State Women’s Ice Hockey team. Although I had served with some truly tough-as-nails women in the Marine Corps, I was still very chauvinistic with my attitude toward women’s athletics — that is, until I actually watched them play.
At Ohio State, I later covered the women’s softball team, including a trip to the NCAA Regionals, and I got to travel with the women’s soccer team.
These ladies were tough, competitive and disciplined. They gave it their all when they competed. A few years later, when I was working at the University of Texas Athletic Department, I got to handle season ticket accounts for the women’s volleyball and basketball teams. A year later, I was at Baylor, attending every women’s basketball game under Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey.
My affinity for women’s athletics has only grown since then because I know just how hard they have to compete in their sport, but also with chauvinistic attitudes. And in the last few years, it has been absolute bliss to watch women’s sports explode in terms of viewership, attendance, team expansion, television deals, endorsements, shoe lines and so forth.
I have also seen firsthand the growth with youngsters as they sign up for travel ball and have personalized coaching. (How times have changed!) And it is great that more girls and young women are participating in sports. We are a country that needs participation and encourages it.
It is not just kids playing sports. We have discovered that the best way to get the best results is to have maximum participation resulting in more competition. We try to do it for education, work, the military, the arts and so on.
But when it comes to sports there is one principle that should never be violated, even while encouraging participation. Fair play is the end all for all sports, whether professional, Olympic, collegiate, high school or kids leagues. Fair play is why we have referees, weight classes, age groups and rules that everyone agrees upon.
Fair play is why we regulate the curve on hockey sticks and the amount of air in footballs. It is why we ban the stealing of the other team’s signals.
Fair play exists to level the competition so that the competition is all that matters. It is why we are so intent on anti-doping and on punishing users of performance-enhancing drugs. It is why we used to and are again trying to restrict gambling. It is why we are arguing about paying college players and restricting their ages. Fair play is key to ensuring the sports we watch are competitive and also safe.
Now, I hesitate to use the word safe, because I don’t think that transgender kids are dangerous or that there is anything wrong with them. But I also know that right-wingers want us to be scared of kids who just want to play sports. And Democrats, being who they are, have taken up the mantle to fight for transgender kids.
The culture war that has erupted has involved the Olympics, where President Trump accused a woman of being transgender (she wasn’t) or college volleyball involving a San Jose State player. And now it has spread to the WNBA, the apex of women’s basketball. Instead of talking about superstar Caitlin Clark and the great season she is having, we are talking about her teammate, Sophie Cunningham, and her comments on transgender athletes.
Cunningham made her feelings known, as is her right. Some have praised her. Her own coach has different views. There are protesters at games now, and WNBA owners being punished for confronting said protesters.
Even though the number of transgender athletes in sports is minuscule, it somehow turned into a crusade for both sides. I have to wonder in this year of the Iran war, affordability issues, corruption, and the overall mess in Washington, whether conservatives are going to try to convince us this is the biggest issue of our lives.
I am joking, of course — they are already doing this.
But here’s the problem for Democrats: You have to figure out a way to have inclusion in sports without violating the concept of fair play. And right now, Democrats have not been able to show that they can do this.
There are tests for testosterone levels and genetic screenings at some levels, but these tests have excluded some women because of body variations. Are we going to check all girls for testosterone, or have them do genetic tests to play intramural ball?
I hope not. As someone who knows about exclusion, I want kids to have a normal life where they can play sports and have fun. But some people don’t want to treat these kids as normal.
People like Trump and Sophie Cunningham have called the ban on transgender athletes “common sense.” That is going to be the argument as long as this issue is an issue. Democrats and transgender advocates need to find a way to show that allowing transgender athletes into women’s and girls’ sports won’t violate the concept of fair play.
Until they can, they will never win on this issue.
Joslin Joseph is a recipient of the Military Reporters and Editors award for Best Commentary-Opinion. A graduate of Harvard and Ohio State, he is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq.
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