The FBI has been investigating the NBA for years now and have come forth to the public with damning details. Two separate indictments are at play. The one that revolves around players providing insider information to others to help them win their bets is particularly interesting. Not because it is more gripping—the other might deserve that characterization more given that it involves the Mafia—but because how people have reacted to it exposes that the main argument used against trans athletes is not truly believed.
The argument, in part, is that trans athletes ruin the sport by making it about personal gain. When Joe Rogan and Tom Segura discussed trans athletes, they both stated that they thought it would be ridiculous for men to transition to women, since it would give them an unfair advantage. They argue, further, that this unfair advantage is the point. Joe Rogan explains that what trans athletes do is sandbag the competition. To make his point, he compares what trans athletes do to what someone nefarious would do in fighting competitions be a black belt in judo and then, without telling anyone, fight against blue belts to dominate them.
The comments echo the same concern. A top comment says, “Usain Bolt should transition and crush the Olympics for 20 more years.” In a similar vein, another commenter says, “I am a 50 year old man who identifies as a 16 year old boy. Little League baseball here I come!” They are pointing towards what they see wrong with transitioning; namely how depending on who does it, transitioning can lead to unbeatable advantages. According to their logic, they hate not the trans athlete, but what they get undeservedly. They are upset that someone is using the sport with such emphasis for their own benefit.
But using the sport for their own benefit is exactly what is being exemplified in this NBA gambling scandal; and yet there is not much outrage; if personal gain is such a problem tainting the sport, then it only makes sense for there to be outrage. After all, there is no question regarding the motives of the NBA players caught in this investigation. They were in control of what bets they could affect, and made sure to align their actions to those bets. As reported by BBC, “In some cases, players altered their performance or took themselves out of games to ensure those bets were paid out, according to New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch. Those bets amounted to tens of thousands of dollars in profits.” It was alleged, for example, that “[Terry] Rozier — who at the time played for the Charlotte Hornets — of planning to prematurely remove himself from a 2023 game against the New Orleans Pelicans because of a supposed injury.”
The players being investigated wanted more money and were willing to use the sport as a way to get it. Unlike with that matter of trans athletes, it is clear that personal gain was the only motive possible of these NBA players. Rather than play their sport seriously, they played it self-servingly, concerned about the gambling negotiations behind the scenes.
That personal gain was at play is not even in question for some. This has resulted in denouncing the absurdity of the situation instead. Commenting on the FBI investigation, Shaquille O’Neal was particularly saddened by the greed: “There’s a certain saying in the hood: ‘All money ain’t good money.’ If you’re making 9 million dollars, how much more do you need?”
What this FBI investigation has not resulted in, though, is in denouncing sports betting. The lack of outrage on this point is strange. Indeed, how come sports betting, which promotes self-serving actions from those in the NBA, has not received such an intense reaction like the ones trans athletes got? The answer is transphobia.
Of course, considering the mentioned arguments against trans athletes it will not seem this way. They were arrived at through reason and various examples that displayed what they saw as grotesque abuse of the sport for personal gain. At the same time, however, those providing these kinds of arguments do not seem that well-intentioned towards trans people. In the same Joe Rogan episode mentioned earlier, Joe Rogan supported the term “actual women,” telling people to “fuck off” preemptively if they do not like it. His guest oversimplifies the points around gender and its relations to one’s body, saying “Well, because you’re thinking that gender is just genitalia…it’s in your mind.” They just laugh about it.
Their supporters in the comments section were equally disrespectful, making fun of what transitioning is: “I am a 21 year old invisible father to my child. I’m trans-parent.” And, “I’m fat but I identify as skinny. I’m trans-slender.” And, “I’m a normal fair skinned white male and I identify as a freckle faced toe headed Denis the menace…I’m transginger”
In short, Rogan and his crew mocked the idea of gender and identity, disrespecting trans people everywhere who grapple with those matters personally and intimately. They simply do not care about trans people. Indeed, their whole argument is grounded on a denial of their existence. As Nathan J. Robinson noted, “[I]f you believe in full trans acceptance, the debate doesn’t even arise. If trans women are women, then of course they should get to compete in women’s sports.”
A big takeaway here is that no one will openly say that the reason for their discrimination stems from hatred towards other groups. Instead, they will mask it with what are meant to be reasonable arguments. As has been seen in the lack of outrage to recent the NBA betting scandal, the disgust over the emphasized personal gain in sports is not a main driving force. Had that been the case, people would have denounced sports betting. This is a revealing inconsistency. It tells us that when people claim they are standing against overtly personal gain motive in sports by rejecting trans athletes, they are just perpetuating transphobia. To protect trans people everywhere, we must be vigilant of and resistant to even the supposedly reasonable arguments against them.
