CNN reporter Laura Coates refused to use the term “male” and “women’s sports” when reporting on the landmark Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that it’s legal for states to stop men from playing in women’s leagues.
NBC News took a different approach, issuing a trigger warning to viewers Tuesday before daring to use the words “biological male” and “biological female.”
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that states have the constitutional power to ban biological males from competing in women’s sports. NBC anchor Craig Melvin wasn’t sure his audience could handle it.
“Just a quick note here,” Melvin said. “The terms that we’re using here during our reporting, biological male, biological female, the high court put those terms in quotations in their decision and their dissent. But just so you know, we’re using those terms from the decision itself, biological male, biological female.”
The Supreme Court of the United States is too extreme for NBC News.
Take a look –
Giving a trigger warning for “biological male” and “biological female” is CRAZY! pic.twitter.com/yyldc3Tld7
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) June 30, 2026
Over at CNN, Coates simply refused to use the term “biological male” at all. Coates described the case as being about people “assigned the male gender at birth” competing in “so-called girl’s sports.”
“Here was the crux of the issue,” Coates told viewers. “It was whether or not somebody who was assigned the male gender at birth would be allowed to play in a traditionally so-called girl’s sports in a public, or a high school, or, of course, in the college setting. The argument that they were using to support a ban was that there was an unfair advantage provided to those assigned male at birth in women’s competition.”
“The other side said, ‘No no, this is sex based discrimination and it violates the protection clause of the 14th Amendment, and therefore you cannot do it.’”
She said the ruling is “at the heart of many culture wars, and one about what the unfair advantage may be” if males are allowed to play against women.
Take a look –
Laura Coates refuses to say 'biological male'pic.twitter.com/3C1mrKonVV
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 1, 2026
“A man does not have a legal right to compete against women just because he believes that he is a woman,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion. “Men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or girls, even if they believe that they are. Sex is an immutable ‘biological’ characteristic. To use language to obscure reality — to show ‘indifference regarding the truth’ — is to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens as equals.”
Female athletes who fought for the ruling celebrated to victory. Riley Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer who became one of the most prominent voices in the Save Women’s Sports movement, said it was common sense.
“The court acknowledged what every parent, coach, athlete, and frankly every kindergartener already knows: men and women are biologically different, and those differences matter in sports,” Gaines wrote.
Tuesday’s ruling does not force every state to adopt bans. Many blue states still allow biological males to compete in women’s sports.
But for Gaines, Skinner, and millions of female athletes across the country, it was an important victory for women — one the mainstream media couldn’t stomach.