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WNBA player Brianna Turner faced backlash on social media after she wrote an op-ed expressing her displeasure with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) policy of keeping men out of women’s sports.
Turner, who recently signed a contract with the Las Vegas Aces after playing professionally in Australia, wrote in USA Today that she did not believe the new policy implemented by the IOC would actually protect women’s sporting events.
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Indiana Fever forward Brianna Turner reacts after defeating the Atlanta Dream in game three of the first round of the 2025 WNBA playoffs at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia, on September 18, 2025. (Dale Zanine/Image Images)
The IOC said it would use genetic testing to ensure that only women participate in women’s events. Turner accused the IOC of using new policies to “scapegoat” transgender athletes while ignoring “real” issues related to women in sports.
“Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports. They create a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports are not addressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment based on race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity,” Turner wrote on Friday.
He also denied the IOC’s argument that the new policy is being enacted to ensure women’s sports are safe and fair, claiming there were no biological advantages to transgender athletes.
WNBA PLAYER OPPOSES OLYMPICS’ NEW TRANSGENDER POLICY, SAYING THEY DO ‘ANYTHING BUT’ PROTECT WOMEN
Indiana Fever forward Brianna Turner celebrates after defeating the Los Angeles Sparks 76-75 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California on August 29, 2025. (Kiyoshi Mio/Image Images)
“In more than 15 years of organized basketball, I have played with and against transgender people and undoubtedly people with intersex variations, and I have never experienced any unfair advantages. I saw these players as my fellow athletes, not my enemies,” Turner wrote.
She concluded by demanding that the IOC not use female athletes in its efforts to “shame or exclude” transgender athletes.
Turner received a torrent of responses on social media to his criticism of the IOC.
Turner’s op-ed followed a similar response from former U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe and basketball Hall of Famer Sue Bird.
“We already know that biology, as much as we want it to be nice and clean and tight and perfect in one category and another, it’s not,” Rapinoe said earlier this month. “We know that. So now what we’re doing is subjecting everyone, all women and all people who identify as women to these really invasive tests that only to me say, ‘Oh, we’re just trying to narrow it down to a certain type of woman.’ Is that what we’re doing? That’s really the whole game here.”
Bird said the IOC’s policy was akin to “scaremongering.”
Turner will play for the Aces this season. He was with the Indiana Fever in 2025 and the Chicago Sky in 2024 after spending the first five seasons of his career with the Phoenix Mercury.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry speaks to volunteers ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Daniele Mascolo/Pool photo via AP)
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There are no known transgender athletes competing in the WNBA.
