The addressing of Enes Kanter isn’t about race or ethnicity, but about the character and attack on sexual orientation in a spotlight where using this life change as a way to parade who you truly aren’t because of a ploy to side themselves with a group that doesn’t want transgender people to exist, they want them to get hurt and force them to regret transitioning from one gender to another, a tale that’s as old as time.
Enes Freedom’s taunting started from his inability to play pro basketball at a high level, lasting eleven seasons in the NBA before being dropped off the face of the earth, he chose to blame others and pit his terrible stat line on those in the league who have dominated and made history, meanwhile, the only history that Freedom chose to make in the last decade is how to get dropped from a league, become a 1x WWE 24/7 Champion, and publicly embarrass yourself by touting himself as an incel with the energy span of a squirrel’s brain that was eaten off the side of the road by the secretary of health and human services.
In the month of August, Freedom chose to use his voice to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft in an attempt to challenge the support of trans women in the WNBA, his statement to the league: "I know my presence on the court will stir up strong opinions" and "am definitely not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any community or personal choices." He added, "I'm simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone — the rules that represent the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for."
This would be a shock to a lot of people, but when Freedom came out in 2021 voicing his anger and hatred for Palestine and the people of Gaza by stating that the slogan "From the river to the sea" meant supporting the destruction of Israel and called protestors using it brainwashed. It wasn’t that hard to realize that Freedom only chose to replace his last name so he can have the freedom to scream his bigotry into an empty void.
This, however, got even worse than his statement at the beginning of the month. What does he do to keep proving he is everything he hates? He buys a ticket to watch a basketball game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever so he can taunt the women and get into a screaming match with Natasha Cloud of the Sky. Do you know how many times a trans athlete has attended a game to scream at the players on the court and get escorted out of the arena? There has never been an incident where that has happened, but who goes and makes a fool out of themselves to be the follow up to other men like him throwing sex toys on the court? Freedom himself.
A mission to “protect women” was never really a mission to protect anyone, especially when Freedom’s first statement is to mock and toy with the idea that he was transitioning genders to play against women just to go to a WNBA game and taunt women. Freedom’s protests to play in the WNBA sparks plenty of questions, for example. Is he scared to play in FIBA? Does he not think he has what it takes to play with the Big 3 League? Is the goal of pushing around women and mocking trans women really the only skills that Freedom has? If your answer was yes to all three questions, you passed with more IQ points than Freedom displays.
Only someone as insecure as Freedom would choose to throw their activism for human rights out the window so they can cater to a group of people that laugh at the citizens of Turkey since they all know they’ve got Freedom in their pockets and he will say and do anything that appeals to their choices and demands.
Transitioning isn’t about how you want to prove you’re better than somebody else, it’s being who you truly want to be, it’s waking up in the body that you love, whether you do identify as a trans men, trans women, nonbinary, or genderqueer, you are proud of the beautiful person you see in the mirror every single day. It isn’t about using your gender to project hate and then claiming the LGBTQ+ community is full of those that are hatred filled when Freedom has been the one who forgets to think before he speaks every single day.
Use your voice to spread awareness of the real situations going on around the world, like those that are affected every day by the earthquakes or speaking up and donating to Palestinian relief funds. When you choose to take advantage of the voice you have by sending hatred to trans people, not only does it raise the chances of violence happening, it shows that someone would rather step on those that they feel are below them rather than be the change that makes a difference. If you have the privilege to wake up every day blessed to spend another day on earth, don’t choose to spend it by going around and spreading hate on the trans community and/or women in sports, choose to be a positive force, not a negative black hole filled with hate and bigotry. A statement that Freedoms should learn to live by after he is done swallowing his hatred for those who are prouder and happier to truly be themselves more than he ever will be.
Rami J. Hanna has written about combat and motor sports, as well sports such as baseball and basketball for a number of publications over the last ten years. In addition to his new role at CBC/DSR, Rami also recently began new roles at WrestlePurists and False Finish, and launched his own YouTube channel, VALUABLE with Rami Afif.