Two Girls and a Host of Virtue Signalers

Last week at a WNBA game in Seattle between the Seattle Storm and the Indiana Fever, two teen girls held up a sign saying, “Thank you, Sophie, for speaking up for girls.” Sophie Cunningham is a guard for the Fever and has spoken out against allowing trans women to compete in women’s sports. During the game, Celeste Keaton, co-owner of the Storm, approached the two girls and berated them, telling them that they were “f****** insane.” She also said that “Jesus loves everyone” and “I hope Jesus can forgive you for what sin you’ve done.” Some Seattle players made thumbs-down gestures at the girls, and some fans also booed them. To make things worse, after the game ended, a fan told security to “take the trash out,” in reference to the two teen girls and other Sophie Cunningham supporters. To their credit, the next day the Seattle Storm issued an apology, and the day after that, the WNBA fined Keaton and suspended her from attending the next five Seattle home games. Given that the Storm had (and still have) the worst record in the league, perhaps not being allowed to attend a few of their games isn’t such a bad thing!

Sophie Cunningham has been accused of being a “transphobe,” but she has denied ever saying she hates trans people. In her own words: “I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’ I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Polls have shown that trans women in women’s sports is an 80-20 issue, meaning that roughly 80% of Americans are against trans women playing in women’s sports. (Trans women are defined as individuals who were born male but who currently identify as female.) By that standard, 80% of Americans are transphobes. More American men fit this definition than American women, which surprises me; if anything, I would have expected that more women than men would want the kind of protection and fairness that Sophie speaks about.

However, it seems that most Americans are reluctant, at best, to speak out against trans women in women’s sports, while there are plenty of voices who speak out for it. I think this can be attributed largely to virtue signaling, which means expressing public support of a viewpoint with the goal of gaining social approval or appearing to be morally superior, but with little to no action behind it. Given that the majority of American media is liberal-leaning, expressions of support for trans women in women’s sports will find an approving audience, while being against it will result in condemnation, which you will see more of if you google Sophie Cunningham’s name.

Celeste Keaton is a prime example of a virtue signaler. The reason I say this is because she is a co-owner of a franchise in an all-women’s league. If I could have a conversation with her, I would like to ask a couple of questions: “Do you really want trans women in the WNBA?” and “Would you protest if the opposing team had a trans woman and your team didn’t?” I can foresee the WNBA eventually allowing trans women on their teams, perhaps even with a quota of, for example, one per franchise.

Since Keaton injected religion into her remarks to the two teen girls, I have a couple of comments in response. First of all, as I have written elsewhere, I agree that there is a sense in which God loves everyone. For example, Matthew 5:45 says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” In other words, there are ways in which God blesses everyone, whether they are righteous or unrighteous. However, I take issue with Keaton’s other “religious” comment: “I hope Jesus can forgive you for what sin you’ve done.” The girls were simply thanking Sophie for “speaking up for girls.” Keaton accuses them of “sin” because they, like Sophie, want to preserve women’s sports for women. And in doing so, she curses them with the f-word. So far, even though the Storm have issued an apology, Keaton has not. Another Bible verse that comes to mind in regard to this incident is Isaiah 5:20, which says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

If you disagree with Sophie Cunningham and the rest of the 80% of Americans (including me) who think trans women should stay out of women’s sports, that is your right. However, if you resort to cursing, as so many do, it weakens your position–and this applies to both sides, although I have noticed it more on one side than the other. At a minimum, let’s express ourselves respectfully, in all things.