WASHINGTON - iSportsWire -- The WNBA is facing a major lawsuit if it doesn't permit former NBA player Royce White (6-8, 270lb) - and probably also NBA draft first round pick Enes Kanter Freedom (6-10, 250lb) - to participate in its draft, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf. . . .

He notes that White has made his intention to sue very clear, saying he says he would pursue legal action if he goes undrafted. . . .

The reason the WNBA will lose, the law professor says, is very simple.  Most of the WNBA teams play in states which have laws which expressly prohibit discrimination based upon gender identity. . . .

So while the WNBA can legally limit its players, shower rooms, etc. based upon their sex, it cannot discriminate between men who are transsexual and men who are not transsexual. . . .

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Obviously, the WNBA could decide that only persons who are clearly female as a result of a medical test can play, but that would exclude so-called transwomen.

But if the WNBA permitted men who claim to be transgender (i.e., transwomen) but not all other men to play, it would be discriminating against the men solely on the basis of their gender identity in clear violation of applicable state laws. . . .

Banzhaf notes that in many situations - including not just athletic teams and sports competitions, but also regarding the use of restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, and educational events limited to women - males have been allowed to acquire a status as a female simply by claiming to be female.

The WNBA is responding to these new developments by scheduling a meeting of a special task force this week to discuss these two applications, but its statement was vague regarding the WNBA's current policy. . . .

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Obviously the simplest way for the WNBA's task force to deal with this novel challenge would be to determine that only a woman can be eligible for the WNBA draft and to play on a WNBA team, and that being a "woman" means satisfying one of several available sex-determination medical tests now increasingly being adopted in other sports, events, and leagues. . . .

This would exclude M2F transgender players, but there are apparently very few who might be able to compete at the current WNBA level of play, and the WNBA seems to be doing well without M2F players, says Banzhaf, who has won over 100 sex discrimination cases, and brought the legal action which forced the first of two then-existing state-supported military academies to admit a cadet who was female. . . .

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf