Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White would not say whether biological males should be allowed to compete in the WNBA, insisting she was not sufficiently educated on the subject while declaring that she does not believe “exclusion is the answer.”
White was questioned before the Fever’s game against the Portland Fire on Friday, and when asked for her personal position on biological males participating in women’s sports, White responded:
“I don’t know that I would say that I’m educated enough from a scientific standpoint. I don’t ever believe that exclusion is an answer. I just don’t.”“I do think, you know, when we think about various levels of sport, various governing bodies of sport, and things that go into that, like I said, I’m not educated enough at the different levels. I know growing up I played with the boys all the time.”
The irony, of course, is that exclusion is the entire reason women’s sports have separate categories. Riley Gaines quickly dismantled White’s response.
Gaines pointed to the categories separating Olympians from Paralympians, adults from youth athletes, and heavyweights from featherweights before delivering the obvious conclusion: “Categories exist solely to exclude.”
White was then asked directly whether she would welcome a biological male into the WNBA. She again declined to provide a clear answer.
“I don’t know, when we talk about biological male and scientifically where we are, I think it’s a totally different scenario. You know, as I said, I’m not educated enough in terms of transgender and transitioning to give you a smart answer.I would say though that I just don’t feel like exclusion is an answer, and I think that we need to have deeper, more layered conversations.”
The reporter followed up by asking whether White would be comfortable having a biological male in the team’s locker room. White did not answer.
Another reporter shifted the conversation by asking whether the controversy had become a distraction for the Fever. White acknowledged some frustration but called the debate part of the league’s “growth edge,” a phrase that does a lot of work to avoid saying anything.
More questions came as White’s own player, Sophie Cunningham, continues to speak plainly about protecting women’s sports. Cunningham recently said that she wants to protect girls who should not have to share locker rooms or compete against biological males.
“I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Supporters held a rally outside Portland’s Moda Center before Friday’s game, marking the second consecutive Fever road game featuring a demonstration backing Cunningham’s position. A similar rally was held in Seattle earlier in the week.
The suppression of dissent extended beyond the press conference itself. The Fever kept Caitlin Clark, who recorded the fourth triple-double of her career in Indiana’s fifth straight victory, away from reporters entirely. When a reporter attempted to ask players Aliyah Boston and Makayla Timpson about Cunningham’s position, the press conference was abruptly shut down. The Fever then removed that final exchange from the version uploaded to YouTube. Fox News Digital confirmed it has received no response from the team explaining why Clark was made unavailable.
White’s hedging comes weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling affirming state laws that ban biological males from women’s sports, a legal and policy framework that already answers the question she claimed was too complex to address. White says she needs a more “layered” conversation. Gaines needed only four words: Categories exist solely to exclude.
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