Right-wing pastor claims women’s basketball causes ‘transgenderism’
A right-wing pastor thinks women’s basketball causes ‘transgenderism’ (Getty Images, stock)
A right-wing Christian pastor has said that the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) causes “transgenderism”.
Eric Conn, a pastor at Refuge Church in Utah and CEO and founder of New Christendom Press, took to X on Wednesday (29 July) to claim that women’s sports are “propaganda” of the “Longhouse”, a phrase used to describe Western society as hyper-institutionalised and dominated by feminine social norms.
Conn’s comments were in response to a tweet from Brandi Kruse about the Seattle Storm co-owner, Celeste Keaton, being suspended after an altercation with two Sophie Cunningham fans. Sophie Cunningham made headlines recently for her opinions on trans athletes, asserting her belief that she wants to “protect women’s sports”.
The fans were holding signs reading “Thank you, Sophie for speaking up for the girls!” They were also wearing T-shirts depicting XX and XY chromosomes. Kruse alleges that Keaton called the girls “f****** insane”, leading to her suspension.
In Conn’s tweet in response to Kruse on 29 July, he said: “Women’s sports are a key propaganda and discipleship tool of the Longhouse TM. WNBA is a hot bed of androgyny and homosexuality that inevitably leads to transgenderism.”
Despite these claims, there has only been one out non-binary trans player in the WNBA. Layshia Clarendon was the first out non-binary player in the WNBA and the first to undergo top surgery. They retired in 2024, and there are no current out non-binary or trans players.
Conn’s comments follow Scott Yenor, senior fellow of the Heritage Foundation, calling for Title IX, the law that stops sex-based bias in schools and allows for fair sports access, to be rewritten to remove the need for equality between men’s and women’s sports programming at colleges and universities.
Following the recent ruling that said states can exclude trans people from school sports without violating Title IX, Yenor wrote a report claiming that women would rather do yoga than play “competitive varsity sports” and that they should be excluded from some sports entirely.
He went on to say that the law needs to take into account the “genuine differences between the sexes” in order to “sustain vibrant women’s sports” and “expand male opportunities”. Yenor also claimed that funding for women’s sports is causing a reduction in funding for men’s sports, which he says no one wants to play.
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