Women’s Sports Should Not Be Controversial

The ongoing controversy surrounding the WNBA has become bigger than any one player, coach or courtside argument.

Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham has faced criticism for speaking plainly about protecting women’s sports. This weekend, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom was removed from the Fever-Sky game after a confrontation with Chicago’s Natasha Cloud. Afterward, Fever Coach Stephanie White described the controversy as a “social media thing” and suggested it should not receive more attention.

I respectfully disagree.

This is not about social media. It is about whether we are willing to defend the very reason women’s sports exist in the first place.

Men and women are equal in dignity and deserving of equal opportunity. But equality does not require us to pretend biological differences disappear when athletes step onto a court, track or field.

I have believed that for a long time.

In 2022, I co-authored House Enrolled Act 1041 to protect girls competing in K-12 athletics in Indiana. When that legislation was vetoed, I joined my colleagues in overriding the veto and putting those protections into law.

At the time, I said my daughters, and all Hoosier girls, deserved a fair and level playing field. Four years later, nothing about that principle has changed.

Indiana has continued moving in that direction, extending protections for women’s athletics to the collegiate level as well. That is what governing is supposed to look like: identify a principle worth protecting, withstand the political noise and turn that principle into durable public policy.

I do not expect everyone to agree on every cultural or political issue. But protecting a separate category for female athletics should not require courage in 2026.

Women fought for generations to earn athletic opportunities, scholarships, professional leagues and the recognition that their competition deserved a stage of its own. We should be building on that progress, not redefining the category that made it possible.

Sophie Cunningham should not be treated as controversial for saying so. Enes Kanter Freedom should not be dismissed for supporting her. And the debate should not be waved away simply because it is uncomfortable.

Some issues really are complicated.

This one does not have to be.

Rep. Chris Jeter (R-Fishers) represents Indiana House District 88, which includes portions of Hancock, Hamilton, Madison and Marion counties. He chairs the House Judiciary Committee and co-chairs the Bail and Release Review Commission.

The record behind this letter

Indiana’s protections for women’s athletics were written in two steps, four years apart. Both bills carried the same number, House Bill 1041, and Rep. Jeter was a co-author of each.

House Enrolled Act 1041 (2022): K-12 athletics

The law requires school corporations, public schools, nonpublic schools and certain athletic associations to designate every interscholastic team or sport as male, female or coeducational, and it prohibits a male, based on biological sex at birth, from participating on a team designated as female. Rep. Jeter voted yes on final passage and yes again on the override.

House Enrolled Act 1041 (2025): college athletics

The 2025 law carries the same team designation and eligibility standard into state educational institutions and certain private postsecondary schools, which is what Rep. Jeter means by extending the protection to the collegiate level.

Common questions about Indiana’s women’s sports law

What is Indiana’s law on women’s and girls’ sports?

Indiana has two, both numbered House Enrolled Act 1041. The 2022 law covers K-12 athletics. It requires schools and athletic associations to designate each team as male, female or coeducational, and prohibits a male, based on biological sex at birth, from playing on a team designated female. The 2025 law extends the same requirement to college athletics in Indiana.

What was Rep. Jeter’s role in the 2022 law?

He was one of three co-authors on the bill as filed. He voted yes when the House passed it 66 to 30 on January 27, 2022, and yes again on May 24, 2022 when the House overrode the Governor’s veto 67 to 28.

Why was the bill vetoed, and how did it become law anyway?

The Governor vetoed it on March 21, 2022. Indiana is one of the few states where a veto is overridden by a simple majority of each chamber rather than a two-thirds vote. Lawmakers returned on May 24, 2022 and overrode in both chambers the same day.

Does the law apply to college athletics?

Yes, since 2025. The 2022 law reached K-12 only. House Enrolled Act 1041 of 2025, which Rep. Jeter also co-authored, carried the same standard into state educational institutions and certain private postsecondary schools. It was signed April 16, 2025.

Does the law stop girls from playing on boys’ teams?

No. The restriction runs one direction. It applies to a male participating on a team designated as female, women’s or girls’. Schools still designate coeducational teams, and those remain open.

Who represents Indiana House District 88?

Rep. Chris Jeter, a Republican from Fishers. The district includes portions of Hancock, Hamilton, Madison and Marion counties. He chairs the House Judiciary Committee, co-chairs the Bail and Release Review Commission, and is a practicing attorney and Navy JAG veteran of the Iraq War.

Paid for by Jeter for Indiana.