Kanter Freedom Says He's Suing Over WNBA Ejection as Ohio's Amy Acton Backs Girls' Sports Law

A shirt, an ejection, and a lawsuit

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom says he was ejected from a WNBA game after wearing a shirt that read "woman: adult human female," and he's now taking legal action over it, according to his interview on Fox News Radio's Guy Benson Show.

Kanter Freedom, now an ambassador for Athletes for America at the America First Policy Institute, says the incident happened at a Chicago Sky game. He supports WNBA player Sophie Cunningham in her public fight with the league over its policies on transgender athletes.

No statement from the WNBA or the Chicago Sky about the ejection or the legal claim has been reported.

Kanter Freedom says he now receives death threats "every hour," including messages invoking the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. He also says his earlier NBA career ended because he criticized China and the league's business ties there, a claim tied to his years-long human rights activism against Beijing's treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans.

He was born in Switzerland to a Turkish family and has said he clashed with anti-American sentiment growing up, which he cites as the root of his activism against authoritarian governments and, more recently, against WNBA policy he sees as unfair to female athletes.

Ohio's governor race and a Democrat breaking pattern

Separately, in Ohio, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton, the state's former health department director, is drawing attention for positions her own party's activists don't always take, according to the Daily Signal.

Asked specifically about federal immigration enforcement, Acton told News 5 Cleveland on Aug. 26: "We always work with the federal law enforcement, and we will do so, whatever it takes to keep Ohioans safe. We need to hold anyone who comes to our state to the same standards of professionalism that we expect of our public safety officers."

Democratic strategist Brian Rothenberg told the Daily Signal that Acton hasn't actually shifted her position. He said she's consistently raised concerns about ICE conduct, including in Minnesota, and has argued the agency should focus on dangerous criminals and act professionally, a stance he said doesn't differ from most Democrats.

Acton has also backed a state law protecting girls' sports from transgender athletes, a position that follows the U.S. Supreme Court upholding state laws on the issue, per the Daily Signal. Rothenberg said Acton's framing is that the Republican-controlled legislature already passed the law, and as governor she would be bound to enforce it regardless of her personal views.

Acton additionally supports Issue 3, an Ohio ballot initiative that would enshrine voter ID requirements already on the books into the state constitution. Rothenberg called it "an election year gimmick," noting voter ID is already Ohio law, both sides in the debate agree on that point, and the initiative mainly locks in what already exists. Her Republican opponent, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, called in May for a constitutional amendment of his own to go before voters on a related issue.

Republican strategist Matt Dole was also consulted by the Daily Signal. Neither he nor Rothenberg works for either party's nominee. Rothenberg argued that Acton's positions have been consistent throughout the campaign and that any perception of a shift has been exaggerated by social media reaction.

Two fights, one theme

Kanter Freedom's ejection lawsuit and Acton's Ohio campaign positioning are unrelated events in different states involving different institutions. Both sit on the same national fault line: how far transgender-inclusion policy should extend into women's and girls' sports.

In professional basketball, that fight is playing out through a former player's legal claim and a wave of threats he says now define his daily life. In Ohio politics, it's playing out through a Democratic nominee trying to hold a general-election coalition together while the Supreme Court and a GOP-controlled legislature have already settled parts of the underlying legal question.

Ohio's general election, including the Issue 3 vote and the Acton-Ramaswamy governor's race, is set for Nov. 3, 2026. Kanter Freedom's legal action against the WNBA or the Chicago Sky has not yet produced a filed case number or a league response, leaving the outcome of his claim and any comment from the WNBA unresolved for now.