Ever since Donald Trump returned to power in his second term in the White House, chaos seems to be the new favorite word for Americans. Amidst his infamous executive orders, like the one he signed back in February 2025, Trump issued an order banning transgender women in America from participating in female sports. Shortly afterwards, the NCAA revised its gender eligibility rules to exclude biological males from women’s divisions.
The new measure targets high schools, universities, and grassroots levels of esteemed sports institutions. The order also allows the Department of Education to suspend schools that do not follow the rules. While several transgender athletes like Lia Thomas have condemned the move, NBA legend Charles Barkley made his stance clear on the ongoing debate.
NBA legend Charles Barkley goes scorched earth on transgender athletics debate https://t.co/ngb15LC9ET pic.twitter.com/INHn6jTKTS
— New York Post (@nypost) May 9, 2025
As per The New York Times, during a recent appearance on OutKick’s Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich, Barkley stated, “Men should not play sports against women.” While the popular figure voiced his support for the LGBTQ community, he called the ones contesting against women and disagreeing with him ‘stupid.’
“If anybody has a problem with that, they’re gonna have to get over it because I’m not gonna change my mind. I just think it’s wrong, period,” he added. “I don’t even think that’s controversial… I don’t wanna hear you try to explain it to me. No, no, no, I don’t wanna hear it. I’m not gonna argue with you. Men shouldn’t play sports against women. I’m done,” he said.
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Barkley also further stressed that despite public pressure or backlash, his opinion would not change. Meanwhile, Charles Barkley’s conversation with Dan Dakich also touched upon unfounded reports that sports brand giant Nike had funded a study on transgender children in sports.
Reportedly, as mentioned by the outlet, Nike had given out a large sum of money to transgender physicist Joanna Harper to study the effects of hormone therapy and puberty blockers on “trans adolescents.”
This discussion came in after a New York Times article highlighted Blaire Fleming, a transgender volleyball player who represents San Jose State University, and her case of how she was allowed to play in the Mountain West Conference back in November 2024.
While the star player said he wasn’t aware of the study, he expressed concern about exposing children to hormone therapy or puberty blockers. “I think we have to be very careful screwing around with kids because they’re not fully developed as a person,” he said.
Furthermore, ever since the Trump administration took office, the country has made strict laws against the LGBTQ community. He declared in January 2025 that the United States would officially acknowledge only two genders: male and female. (no other gender or X or anything).
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This change only meant that all government identification papers in America, like passports and driver’s licenses, will have the choice to select gender on the basis of biological reality and not self-assessed gender identity.
Even though the 78-year-old’s views have been brutally slammed, calling him misogynistic and homophobic by celebrities and several others, he has stood firm in his opinions.
