The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) has been the source of ire and fun alike lately, not only for the uncertain treatment of some of its more outspoken players, but also for their prevarication about certain matters of biology. Specifically, they are a sports league devoted to women; that's why they are called the Women's National Basketball Association, and not the Everyone's National Basketball Association.
Recently, two men went to the WNBA and, no doubt as a publicity stunt, claimed to "identify" as women, and applied to play in the WNBA. The WNBA said, "No, look, you're men." That put the WNBA in the interesting position of proclaiming to know what a man was - but not a woman.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Republican lawmakers that former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are ineligible to play in the league because they are "both men," responding to a congressional inquiry without supplying the definition of "women" that lawmakers had requested.
"With respect to your questions regarding eligibility, only women are eligible to play in the WNBA and the individuals you cite in your letter are both men," Engelbert wrote in the Oct. 16 response. The letter, which is dated Oct. 16, was provided to OutKick by the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which represents Freedom.
The letter answered a Sept. 17 inquiry from Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., and four other House Republicans about eligibility, player safety and confrontations with fans. Freedom and White had announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft while saying they identify as women.
Now, that was funny enough in and of itself. But, here's the onion:
The lawmakers asked how the league defines "women" under Article XIII, Section 1(a) of its collective bargaining agreement, and why the two former NBA players had been deemed ineligible. That provision of the 2026 agreement states: "Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA." It does not define the term in that eligibility provision.
Stutzman welcomed Engelbert’s statement as an acknowledgment of a distinction based on biological sex.
Enes Kantor Freedom took to his X account to broadcast the reply by WNBA.
🚨 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF AMERICA, THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! The @WNBA has officially responded! IS THE #WNBA TRANSPHOBIC? Apparently, the WNBA still can’t define what a WOMAN is, but they’re absolutely certain they know what a MAN is! How convenient! WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has declared that I am a man. Who gave her the authority to decide who I am? Who gets to define my identity? And how can the WNBA determine who is a man without explaining what qualifies someone as a woman? Is the WNBA denying people the right to define their own gender identity? You can’t have it both ways! America, read this letter for yourselves. THE WNBA HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) October 20, 2026
He writes:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF AMERICA, THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!
The @WNBA has officially responded!
IS THE #WNBA TRANSPHOBIC?
Apparently, the WNBA still can’t define what a WOMAN is, but they’re absolutely certain they know what a MAN is!
How convenient!
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has declared that I am a man.
Who gave her the authority to decide who I am?
Who gets to define my identity?
And how can the WNBA determine who is a man without explaining what qualifies someone as a woman?
Is the WNBA denying people the right to define their own gender identity?
You can’t have it both ways!
America, read this letter for yourselves.
THE WNBA HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!
OK, now that's some better than fair satire right there, but there's a point to all this, and it's simple: Men are men and women, women. If a dude wants to put on a dress and proclaim he's a woman, fine, nobody much cares, as long as they aren't playing in sports or teaching kindergartners. But in sports, this is a very real issue; being a man gives one great advantages in strength, speed and endurance, and in a game like basketball, that's critical. And the WNBA Commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, in a reply to members of Congress, manages to say she knows a man when she sees one, but still shies away from defining "woman."
Fine, Commissioner, my background's in biology, and I can tell you this: A woman is an adult female of the species Homo sapiens, with two X chromosomes. That's the definition in biology and medicine. It's the only definition you need. Of course, Enes Kantor Freedom and Royce White know this, of course. That's the point of the whole affair. It's rather silly that people have to go to these lengths to push the commissioner of a national women's sports league to acknowledge what people have known since, well, there were people, but here we are. And still, the WNBA has declined to accurately define "woman."
The late, great Rush Limbaugh used to call this "illustrating absurdity by being absurd." It works, too — every time.