Trinidad and Tobago’s Suncorp Super Netball athlete, Sam Wallace-Joseph, faced backlash for her social media post regarding the International Transgender Day of Visibility coinciding with Easter Sunday.
Wallace-Joseph, a two-time NSW Swifts champion, shared a headline suggesting that United States President Joe Biden had purportedly designated Easter Sunday as the future date for the International Transgender Day of Visibility.
Captioning the post with “The disrespect is crazy. Don’t play with God,” Wallace-Joseph received criticism from fans who pointed out the misleading nature of the headline. Despite the backlash, Wallace-Joseph defended her stance, stating in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that she harbors no illwill toward anyone based on their gender and has numerous LGBTQ+ friends.
Furthermore, she affirmed her participation in the NSW Swifts Pride match scheduled for May. However, following intervention from the Super Netball club, Wallace-Joseph deleted the Instagram story and related tweets. Both the NSW Swifts and the Super Netball league issued statements disassociating themselves from Wallace-Joseph’s comments and reaffirming their commitment to inclusivity and diversity within the sport.
