On International Day for Transgender Visibility, the PWHL kept transgender athletes and fans invisible.
Before noon on March 31, the annual International Day for Transgender Visibility, the WNBA made a public statement acknowledging the day and transgender people.
“Today and every year on March 31, we observe Transgender Day of Visibility,” the WNBA wrote on social media. “We honor the strength, courage, and resilience of transgender people and the transgender community. We see you, we stand with you, and we will continue to support you.”
A few hours later, the NWSL followed.
“Celebrating Trans Day of Visibility! You are seen, you are valued, and you are such an integral part of the NWSL community,” the league wrote.
The PWHL didn’t acknowledge the day. Nor did any of their six teams. It was the post the PWHL didn’t make that spoke louder than those they have.
On March 31, International Day for Transgender Visibility, the Boston Fleet posted an advertisement for their upcoming Pride Night. No mention of the transgender community however, was made. As did the Montreal Victoire; again, without mention of transgender fans or athletes. The Minnesota Frost, a team that’s been placed at the heart of discussions surrounding the exclusion of trans athletes and fans from sport, following transphobic social media activity by forward Britta Curl, posted the following, “Women inspiring women. From mothers to iconic hockey athletes, we asked our players who their female role models are to complete Women’s Empowerment Month.”
Minnesota’s post alone does not raise alarms in a league built to empower women, and celebrate women’s hockey. The post, however, came on a day the world recognized transgender individuals, on a team where forward Britta Curl-Salemme once posted “Females protecting female players on the female players association board?” celebrating PWHPA board member Jocelyne Lamoureux’s public transphobic campaigning. In context, it changes the intended tone of Minnesota’s message
As the clock ticked to midnight, it felt like another bad April Fools joke watching an important date, celebrated globally for more than a decade, come and go without visibility. Had the PWHL not committed to a month of Pride celebrations, their silent omission may have slid by unnoticed. But the league itself held Pride games, which they deem “Unity Games,” on the eve of International Day for Transgender Visibility, March 30, and on the day, following, April 1.
Ahead of the league’s Pride Month Unity Games, the PWHL collaborated with “Ontario-based artist Eli, a queer and transgender creative whose work is deeply rooted in themes of identity, resilience, and self-expression.”
Eli mentioned the transgender community in a statement, but the league has not.
“My goal was to create a playful, bold image FOR the LBGTQ+ community rather than ABOUT us,” said Eli of designing a new Unity Game logo for the league “I aimed to bring something we’ve never seen before in a typical flag Pride logo, taking inspiration from different aspects of the queer/trans experience. The bright and bold nature of the design reflect the brightness and boldness found within the queer and trans community.”
The league’s silence on transgender rights, and the safety and inclusion of transgender players, fans, and staff has never reached the point of action or policy with the PWHL.
In August 2023, PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford stated the league was working on a policy related to transgender athletes. In January 2024, the month the PWHL first took to the ice, the league stated they continued to work on a Gender Inclusion Policy. Fast forward to April 1, 2025, and the league still has not released a Gender Inclusion Policy. And in the face of “unity,” they missed an opportunity to actually unite by ignoring the International Day for Transgender Visibility by keeping transgender individuals invisible.
The women’s hockey community has taken notice. The empty words continue to speak loud and clear.
“There’s no evidence to suggest completing the policy is actually a priority for the PWHL,” wrote The Ice Garden’s Alyssa Turner of the league’s long-promised Gender Inclusion Policy. “As the environment for transgender athletes gets more and more hostile in the United States and PWHL players with public histories of transphobia like Britta Curl-Salemme are all but sequestered from the media, the league’s continued delays don’t suggest a desire to ‘do the work to get it right:’ they suggest a ‘let’s hope people forget about it and stop asking us.’ If the PWHL truly wants to be welcoming and inclusive, it’s long past time to put up or shut up about gender inclusion.”
Turner was not alone in the sentiment. Sydney Kerr, a writer for Offside News followed with an editorial saying that in light of the stance many organizations and leagues are taking in support of trans women, it makes “the silence from the PWHL even more damning.”
“Other sports organizations are taking clear stances, and even the PWHL’s own predecessor had clear guidance that allowed and encouraged trans women and nonbinary people to play in the league. So why the silence?”
Kerr also referenced the league’s new Pride logo and designs, but questioned the performative action.
“[I]s this all we can expect from the league that, for many, is a site of queer joy and acceptance? Can the league celebrate pride while fans are still asking for inclusion? Can pride exist amongst silence? While the league rolls out their Pride Unity games, and tease us with news for expansion, fans are going to continue to ask: when will the PWHL stand with trans women? Or is their silence all we can expect?”
On the International Day for Transgender Visibility, there was only silence from the PWHL while North America’s largest professional women’s sports leagues, the WNBA and NWSL, spoke clearly in support of the transgender community.
Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. On the 2025 International Day for Transgender Visibility, it was the post the PWHL didn’t make, the words they didn’t say, and the lack of support for a community that avidly supports the league, that spoke loudest.
