Charles Barkley comes out against transgender athletes in women’s sports

Former NBA star Charles Barkley said that while he supported transgender people, it was stupid to allow biological men to compete against women in sports.

“Men should not play sports against women. If anybody thinks that, I think they’re stupid. I support the gay community 100%. I support the transgender community 100%. But I do not, under any circumstances… think that men should play sports against women,” Mr. Barkley told OutKick’s Dan Dakich in an interview.

Mr. Barkley, who hosts TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” also opposed transgender medical treatment for children.

“I don’t even think anybody knows who they are as a young kid. So I think we have to be very careful because you don’t want to put kids in a disadvantageous situation — because, hey, when you get older, you can make your own decision. But I think we have to be very careful screwing around with kids because they’re not fully developed as a person,” Mr. Barkley said.

The comments were prompted by Mr. Dakich, who asked Mr. Barkley about claims by the outlet that sports apparel giant Nike was funding research on the effects that hormone replacement therapy has on transgender youth.

Researcher Joanna Harper from Oregon Health & Science University is part of a study that, using a 10-step fitness test from before their treatment began as a baseline, looks at the effect of hormone therapy on study subjects every six months for five years.

She told the New York Times that her study is being funded by Nike.

At a seminar in 2023, Harvard School of Medicine professor Kathryn Ackerman, who is also involved in the study, said, “Recently, we got some money from Nike, who wanted to study this more. … They wanted to look at transgender folks who are going through the transition younger. So, if we are talking about athletes who are pausing puberty and then doing gender-affirming care and cross-hormonal treatment, what happens to them over time.”