No takers on $35k offer to slam trans NWSL athletes
An anti-trans clothing company is now offering athletes $10,000 to speak out against trans and intersex athletes.XX-XY Athletics, a sportswear brand focused on spreading the message that trans and intersex people don't belong in women's sports, has announced that it is offering this sum to any player in the National Women's Soccer League who will speak out against trans and intersex athletes.The only problem is that no NWSL players are taking the bait. (@) "$10k to the next NWSL player to stand up in defense of keeping women's soccer female," XX-XY founder and CEO Jennifer Sey wrote on X. "A full throated defense. A press conference. Nothing mealy-mouthed."Sey later added that she found "a nice person who has agreed to add $5k," bringing the total to "$15k to any NWSL player who stands up for women's sports." The bounty didn't end there.Podcaster Clay Travis also said he'd double the money, bringing the price up to $30k. Travis is the founder of OutKick, a sports and culture website that says it is the "antidote to the mainstream sports media that often serves an elite, left-leaning minority instead of the American sports fan."The offer came about a week after NWSL player Elizabeth Eddy, who has been on the roster with Angel City Football Club for the last three years, but only played a combined 87 minutes in those seasons, published an essay in the New York Post saying that trans and intersex players should be banned from the league.Eddy's essay was published after Zambian star Prisca Chilufya, an intersex woman, was signed by Angel City. (@) Eddy's Angel City teammates later said in a press conference that they felt "hurt and harmed" and "disgusted" by the essay, and that they support any players targeted by it.Sey appeared on Fox News after Eddy published her essay, where she claimed that there are "several males" in the NWSL."They aren't trans identified, they're men with DSDs," she said. "In fact, one of the best players in the league is male, Barbra Banda, who plays for Orlando Pride."Banda is a cis woman.After Sey's Fox News appearance, the NWSL issued a statement saying that Banda is a role model whose "contributions to the Orlando Pride and the NWSL have been transformative." "Any harassment or hateful attacks toward Barbra are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, league, or our communities. We stand unequivocally with Barbra and with every NWSL player," the statement reads.This isn't the first time Sey has offered an athlete money to speak out against trans athletes. Earlier this year, the company paid fencer Stephanie Turner $5k after she forfeited a match against a trans fencer named Redmond Sullivan."This week, we awarded Stephanie Turner our Courage Wins award, along with a $5000 grant," the company wrote at the time. (@) Sey's new offer of payment for going against trans athletes was first posted on November 5. As of November 14, she says the "going rate is now $35k." Still, no players have taken the offer.