#honestly extra excited again that i have season tickets for our local nwsl team

[vinelark]

i didn’t know about the NWSL thing, thank you for sharing!

yeah! it was a bbc interview with meghann burke, the executive director of the NWSLPA (and former player). i can only find a shareable clip on instagram (😔); in the latter half, the interviewer asks about the anti-trans women's sports EO, and without hesitating meghann responds: "Plainly stated, this executive order absolutely does not protect women in sports. Let’s be clear and call this what it is. […] This executive order is a cynical political strategy that is designed to distract from the issues that actually affect Americans."

and later on she finishes with: “Here’s what we do know: women’s sports as a concept, as a category itself, was born out of exclusion. And in 1921 when the Dick, Kerr Ladies were crowding stadiums with 50 thousand or more fans, the FAA’s response in England was to ban women from playing football for 50 years. So as women’s sports advocates in women’s sports, we ought to be very careful before we start going about excluding people. And in fact, reifying the very institutions that banned us in the first place works against women. We can show plenty of examples of women who have reached the pinnacle of their careers, they are elite athletes, they’re muscular, they’re fit, they’re technically savvy—but if they’re too good their eligibility to play the sport in the first place is questioned, and that is the ultimate attack on women. […] As the advocate for players we’re ready to stand up to that executive order. I can tell you right now that it would actually have no impact, given that there are no transgender women in the NWSL or trying to play in the NWSL; that being said, as I said earlier, we are about protecting women, and protecting the sacred space we have created for ourselves, and we will stand up to any effort to deny women the opportunity to play.”