Black Leaders in the LGBTQIA Movement Applaud University of South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley for Standing up for Trans Athlete Inclusion

The Human Rights Campaign congratulates Coach Dawn Staley and the University of South Carolina women's basketball team for their outstanding season and undefeated NCAA championship run. We also recognize Coach Staley for her leadership in championing the rights of all people, including transgender athletes.

Coach Staley has always been a trailblazer, but she's also shown that true leadership is about advancing justice and equality for everyone. By expressing her full-throated support for transgender athletes' inclusion in sports, she's sending an important message - our shared humanity matters.

At a time when too many public figures and groups like the NAIA are stoking fear about transgender young people just trying to play, Coach Staley understands that the presence of trans athletes doesn't diminish anyone else's success - if anything, it expands our capacity for hope, fair play and mutual understanding. It should be a lesson for the NCAA not to take a page out of the playbook of fearmongers. Women's sports needs resources and funding, not discrimination and division.

That kind of moral clarity and courage to do right is why Dawn Staley continues to inspire new generations. We congratulate her and the Gamecocks on an incredible season, and we thank Coach Staley for the leadership she shows both on and off the court.