CLEVELAND – During a press conference Saturday before the NCAA Tournament championship game, South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley was asked her opinion on transgender women competing in women's sports.
Mr. Staley paused for a moment before answering, and spoke carefully.
“Damn, you have a deep crush on me, right? I think if you're a woman you should play,” Staley said. “If you identify as a woman and want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play. That's my opinion.”
Ms. Staley felt her answer was not good enough for the reporter.
“Do you want it deeper?” she asked.
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She was asked directly, “Do you think transgender women should be able to participate?”
“That's the question you want to ask, and I'll answer it. Yes, that's right,” Staley said. “So now barnstormer people are going to come flooding into my timeline and interrupt me on the biggest day of our game, and I'm okay with that. I really that's right.”
This isn't the first time a reporter representing OutKick has bombarded Staley with questions completely unrelated to the game at hand. After South Carolina's win over LSU in January, Outkick told Staley he still supports his own decision to cancel the Gamecocks series against BYU in 2022 following the racial slur incident. I asked if I would. Staley dismissed it and questioned the timing given how much time has passed.
Top-seeded South Carolina (37-0) will face top-seeded Iowa State (34-4) in the national championship game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Sunday (ABC, 3 p.m. ET). Compete against.
Dawn Staley comments on transgender women in sports, draws praise from social media
Staley's response quickly made its way to X (formerly known as Twitter), where many praised Staley's willingness to speak out in support of trans women in sports. did.
