Dallas Mavericks Minority Owner feels that “people just aren’t ready” to embrace the idea of men competing in women’s sports.
During an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on Friday, Cuban stressed that allowing transgender athletes to play against women is not something that should be “pushed down people’s throats.”
“To make it a national issue so that if you weren’t supporting the fewer than 10 trans athletes in the NCAA, then you weren’t a good person. People just aren’t ready for that yet. You’ve got to meet people where they are,” Cuban said. “It takes time, you can’t just force it down people’s throats.”
Cuban added, “Instead of trying to get where the people who are being disadvantaged and being discriminated against are helped, they wanted to make it a campaign issue. Focus on helping the people, not using them to campaign.”
The American public mirrors Cubans’ feelings on the subject.
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey in January found that the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, oppose allowing males to compete against females.
“Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports,” the New York Post reported at the time.
“Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.”
Ultimately, Cubans believe that female athletes should decide for themselves whether to play against men.
“My attitude is if there’s a trans athlete, no matter what side, you let the opponent, whether it’s an individual sport or a team sport, you let them decide if they want to compete against them or not,” Cuban said.
