Dawn Staley Says Trangender Women Should Be Allowed To Play Women's Sports

Published|Updated

CLEVELAND – The South Carolina women's basketball team defeated N.C. State on Friday night in the Final Four to advance to the National Championship. The team, coached by Dawn Staley, is currently undefeated. 

Staley addressed the media on Saturday morning prior to Sunday's championship matchup against Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. The game figures to be one of the highest-rated women's college basketball games of all-time. 

Because of the increased spotlight on women's sports this weekend, OutKick took the opportunity to ask Staley about a very important issue facing women's sports – the decision of whether or not to include transgender women (biological males) in the game. 

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley reacts against the NC State Wolfpack in the Final Four of the Women's 2024 NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley reacts against the NC State Wolfpack in the Final Four of the Women's 2024 NCAA Tournament.

(Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports)

Staley did not mince words and made her position clear: yes, she thinks that a biological male who says he is a woman should be allowed to participate in women's sports, including women's college basketball. 

"Damn, you got deep on me, didn't you?" Staley said, following the question.

She took several seconds to breathe and gather her thoughts.  

"I'm of the opinion of, 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. That's my opinion. You want me to go deeper?" 

"Do you think transgender women should be able to participate in women's college basketball," I responded. 

"That's the question you want to ask, I'll give you that. Yes, yes. So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I'm okay with that. I really am." 

OutKick's Riley Gaines, a champion for fairness in women's sports, shared her thoughts on Staley's comments. 

"Dawn Staley knows perfectly well that men's basketball is a totally different sport than women's basketball," Gaines said. "That's obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball … the sheer amount of layups compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break.

Riley Gaines Dawn Staley transgender

Riley Gaines responds to Dawn Staley's comments that transgender women, biological men, should be allowed to compete in women's sports. 

(Imagn/USA Today)

"I wonder if Dawn Staley also supports 18u playing with 12u, or heavyweights fighting the featherweights, or Olympians competing in the Paralympics.

"It always sucks seeing a well-established woman who has broken barriers for women in sports turn into a sellout in the name of ‘inclusion.’ The women's category was created to be intentionally exclusive by design. Go Hawks." 

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder faced the media a few hours later and was asked the same question, but didn't really provide an answer. 

"My focus is on tomorrow’s game," Bluder said. She added that it’s an "important issue" but an important issue for "another time."

We'll have to see if Staley decides to open her recruiting to transgender women in the future, or if her opinion changes should her team ever face an opponent with a biological male on the team. 

Updates with comment from Iowa coach Lisa Bluder

Tags
Written by

Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.