Lesbian Sports, News for Queer Women

PWHL Player Attempts To Apologize For Transphobic Social Media Post

December 12, 2025

Years after her controversial social media activity was found, PWHL’s Britta Curl has once again attempted to apologize to queer fans who aren’t buying it.

Featured Image: Troy Parla/Getty Images

Here we are again… another women’s sports player has been criticized for spewing and liking content that is transphobic, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-vaccine, and pro Kyle Rittenhouse. When PWHL’s Britta Curl-Salemme’s X activity was discovered while she was up for the draft in 2023, fans of the progressive league were rightfully mad. After a limp apology, the fans’ boos only became more deafening throughout her first season, and Curl-Salemme is finally speaking out—well, kind of.

Related: NWSL’s Elizabeth Eddy Makes Ridiculous Plea To Bar Trans Competitors

In an act of wanting to “clear the air,” Curl-Salemme turned to The Athletic to “apologize” for her online history. For context, in the weeks leading up to the 2024 PWHL Draft, Curl-Salemme was slotted to be selected early as she was fifth in the nation. However, her past likes on X were posted to Reddit, revealing that she had liked posts that called Target “perverted” for selling LGBTQ+ products, posts that bashed the COVID vaccine mandates, a post that celebrated the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, and had written a post supporting the barring of trans women from women’s sports.

Despite fan speculation that the controversy would cause the player to drop out of the draft, Curl-Salemme was selected to Minnesota. Then came Curl-Salemme’s first apology, only a few days post-draft. “I specifically recognize that my social media activity has resulted in hurt being felt across communities, including LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals, and I just want to apologize and take ownership of that. I have family members and extremely close friends who are part of these communities, and I love them very much,” Curl-Salemme said in a video posted to X. Not the “I have gay friends” defense…

Since that video, fans have continued to boo Curl-Salemme every time she was on the ice. Now, the player is finally back with a new apology. Curl-Salemme called the perception of her a “misunderstanding,” claiming that she “used her likes to save or bookmark posts to read later and that she didn’t necessarily agree with the views expressed.”

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In regard to her own personal tweet praising a trans-ban from women’s sports, Curl-Salemme says she is only focused on the ‘issue’ of competitive fairness in women’s sports and that her goal “is not to bring war to someone’s life and the way they feel and the choices they make.”

Her original tweet in 2023 praised a statement made by U.S. women’s national hockey team alumni Jocelyn and Monique Lamoureux, which claimed that trans-inclusive sports politics discriminate against women. Curl-Salemme responded to the statement, writing, “Females protecting female players on the females players association board? Thank you (Lamoureux twins).”

While the trans sports debate is rampant throughout the sporting world right now, it is especially important to the PWHL fanbase, which is largely queer and trans. While the PWHL, like the NWSL, does not have a gender inclusion policy, the past Premier Hockey Federation had a policy that allowed both trans and nonbinary athletes to compete on the ice. Fans remain dismayed by Curl-Salemme’s stances and lack of action to make up for it.

The player claims to have done work in the 19 months since her likes were made public and said she’s “learned to have compassion.” Yet, as The Athletic points out, “while Curl-Salemme said she has focused on internal ‘work,’ she has done very little to outwardly make amends.” Fans, noting that she is still standing by the unsupported argument that trans women have an advantage over cis-women, argue she has clearly not educated herself. When you play in a queer league, two half-assed apologies and an appearance at a women’s sports bar frequented by the queer community is just not going to cut it.

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