Kim Mulkey has a lot of memories, but one of the most impactful, she said, was told she couldn't be in the dugout of a Dixie Youth All-Star Game.
She wasn't allowed to be there because she was a girl, as she recalled, speaking on the eve of her LSU squad's Final Four matchup with Virginia Tech.
"The impact of that I won’t ever forget," Mulkey said. "Growing up, going to the gyms down Highway 51 in Tangipahoa Parish, playing on Sunday nights with older guys and my dad, they let me play. But memories are all we have in life, until they’re gone."
It was that answer that spurred the next on a hot-button issue, regarding the inclusion or exclusion of transgender athletes in collegiate sports. Earlier in the week the Texas Senate advanced a bill that would restrict their participation in such events.
"Has you being kept out informed how you feel about this new tug-of-war about transgender athletes," asked Bill Rhoden of ESPN.
Here is Mulkey's complete answer:
“I hope I answer this in a very sensitive way, because I think we all know transgenders. I think we all know people who may not be like we are. I had a conversation with [basketball analyst] Debbie Antonelli, she has a special needs child, and we found a special olympics, didn’t we? We found a place for them to compete. And I think that with time, maybe you will see a league, or something for transgender athletes. I just think that I’m sensitive to those on one side, and yet I’m also sensitive to those on the other side.
"Does that make sense? Is that a good, politically correct answer so I don’t get in trouble?”
…
“You’re going to find this extremely interesting. When this topic became apparent, when I was at Baylor, I had this conversation with the athletic director, and I’ll leave it at that. So I was kind of ahead of the curve. I had a conversation, what if? I never got an answer. And I’ll leave it at that. But I was very much aware. But I also want you to know that I have conversations with transgender people who don’t believe that they should be competing against biological females, and I find that real interesting.
"So, you ask questions. You’re human. You want to hear sides of stories and come up with what you think, but at the end of the day, nobody cares what I think. Nobody cares, but thanks for asking that.”
Mulkey has been under fire in the past on such subjects. In 2013 she drew heavy criticism after former Baylor star told Sports Illustrated that she had advised her players not to be open publicly about their sexual orientation.
LSU's coach was asked later in her press conference whether she had been in contact with Griner since her release from Russian prison in 2022. She said she had not.
"But I’m glad she’s back," Mulkey added. "I’m glad she’s safe, she’s sound. I think everybody is. But no, I have not.”
