The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
AD
The Epoch Times
Support Us
SHARE
World NewsAustralia News

Transgender Player to Join Australian Basketball League

Copy
Facebook
X
Truth
Gettr
LinkedIn
Telegram
Email
Save
Transgender Player to Join Australian Basketball League
Sami Whitcomb of the Lynx drives to the basket against Shyla Heal of the Fire during game two of the WNBL Semi Final series between Perth Lynx and Townsville Fire at Bendat Basketball Stadium in Perth, Australia on March 12, 2023. Paul Kane/Getty Images
Daniel Y. Teng
By Daniel Y. Teng
3/13/2023Updated: 3/14/2023
0:00

An Australian semi-professional women’s basketball league is set to include a transgender athlete for the first time.

Andrew Bogut, former National Basketball Association player, broke the news saying the league would have a “biological male playing this upcoming season” in the NBL1 South league, which mainly includes teams in the state of Victoria.

“Are you ok with sacrificing the sanctity of female sport in the name of ‘inclusion?’” the part-owner of the Sydney Kings wrote on Twitter.

“#GirlDads where are you?”

NBL1 sits just below the country’s top-flight basketball competition, the National Basketball League (NBL).

Golden State Warriors' Andrew Bogut, right, keeps the ball from Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier (10) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Golden State Warriors' Andrew Bogut, right, keeps the ball from Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier (10) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. AP Photo/Ben Margot

In a later Instagram post, Bogut said the league and Kilsyth Cobras team had not been transparent in letting players know they were competing against a biological male.

“Members of that club don’t know. Other teams in that league don’t know,” Bogut said. “I’m not afraid to speak about it. I think it needs to be discussed.”

“This athlete in question has already played the game. From what I understand a friendly game against a team that had no idea it was going forward. They asked some questions, apparently before the game [and] the game still went ahead—kind of like, ‘Too bad, deal with it.’”

“One of the coaches mentioned that ‘I declined to make comment about it because I value my job.”

Basketball Victoria’s Response

Basketball Victoria confirmed an application was received and that no final decision had been made yet.
The body noted it was working with Basketball Australia on clearing the final stages of eligibility while pointing to its new guidelines (pdf) around participation for transgender athletes.

“Basketball Victoria recognises that there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer as to the eligibility in elite and sub-elite basketball and therefore continues to treat applications to play on a case-by-case basis at these levels,” the organisation told The Epoch Times in a statement.

“It is important that all athletes participate in an inclusive, fair, and respectful environment and we hope all in the community can move forward together with a clear understanding of the new guidelines” said Nick Honey, CEO of Basketball Victoria.

While Sheena Atkin, the group’s diversity and inclusion manager, said the guidelines provided support and frameworks for the whole Victorian community.

“Basketball has long prided itself as ‘Everyone’s Game’ and this remains the case, particularly at the ‘Community’ level,” she said.

Transgenders In Sports

The inclusion of transgender athletes in sports has been an ongoing and contentious issue.

In June 2022, the global body for competitive swimming, FINA, voted to allow biological males to compete in women’s events only if they had not experienced puberty.

Further, they must maintain testosterone levels below 2.5 nmol/L. Around 71 percent of FINA’s 152 members voted in favour of the new rule.

The move was welcomed by Australian Olympians Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm.

“If I was swimming in a male event I wouldn’t even place. I wouldn’t have got a medal in Tokyo, and a male who came eighth in Tokyo in the same event as me would have won the event by about five or six seconds, so there’s the difference we’re talking about,” said Seebohm, a backstroke star, in an interview with the Today show in April 2022.

However, fellow Olympian Ian Thorpe opposed the decision saying it was “very complicated” but he was “personally opposed” to the position taken by FINA.

“I am for fairness in sport, but I’m also for equality in sport. And in this instance, they’ve actually got it wrong,” he told reporters.

READ MORE
  • Olympian Calls on Swimming’s Governing Body to Remove Restriction on Trans Women Athletes

More recently, U.S. Republican senators have introduced a bill to counteract President Joe Biden’s attempts to compel institutions to allow biological males to share women-only spaces and compete in women’s sports.

The Biden administration’s Department of Education is proposing new regulations that will amend Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to ensure “no person experiences sex discrimination in education”—presumably encompassing transgender individuals.

READ MORE
  • Republican Senators Reintroduce Bill to Ban Biological Males From Girls Sports
Daniel Y. Teng
Daniel Y. Teng
Writer
Daniel Y. Teng is based in Brisbane, Australia. He focuses on national affairs, including federal politics and Australia-China relations. Got a tip? Contact him at [email protected].
twitter
Author’s Selected Articles

After Outpolling the Greens, Where Do Australia’s Minor Conservative Parties Go From Here?

May 13, 2025
After Outpolling the Greens, Where Do Australia’s Minor Conservative Parties Go From Here?

India Soon to Surpass UK as Largest Migrant Community in Australia: ABS

Apr 30, 2025
India Soon to Surpass UK as Largest Migrant Community in Australia: ABS

Australia’s Challenge: Compete or Be Left Behind in the New US Trade Order

Apr 16, 2025
Australia’s Challenge: Compete or Be Left Behind in the New US Trade Order

Battle Over Beef: Ranchers Say Australia's Protectionism Dressed Up as Biosecurity

Apr 07, 2025
The Beef Over Beef: A Dispute About Tariffs and Protectionism, but Not the Way You Imagine It
Related Topics
transgender
transgender athletes
Save
The Epoch Times
Copyright © 2000 - 2025 The Epoch Times Association Inc. All Rights Reserved.