An open letter to the Professional Women's Hockey League and executives

Dear PWHL,
As queer, trans and allied fans, our community has some concerns about the motivations of the league. 

After the initial backlash of Britta Curl-Salemmes signing at the 2024/25 draft, our community had assumed that the league would come to the table with queer and trans leaders to navigate the onboarding of a known trans exclusionary radical feminist (terf to be used going forward in this communication), and homophobe into the league, in hopes that these conversations would help educate fans and players in the direction of supporting trans athletes and protect young queer players. 

The league instead, proceeded to ignore the pleas of the queer and trans community about her inclusion in the league, but continued to promote a LGBTQIA+ focus in the league. This has left a sour taste in the mouth of many a fan across the league, not just trans and queer players. Using the community to sell shirts and tickets while actively ignoring the needs of your fans is exploitative and dangerous. It doesn't give us a safe place to support. There is a dangerous subculture that the lack of acknowledgement on parts of the PWHL has fostered. The terf movement is alive and young trans athletes are dangerous. Womxn's sports are a place for us all to come together, causing division amongst this beautiful community will benefit no one.

We encourage you to;

• Re-examine Curl-Salemmes involvement in the league and how it relates to your fans safety 
• Commit to ending the toxic subculture that the lack of acknowledgement and education against terf culture fosters in the PWHL fan base
• Meet with queer and trans community leaders to bring knowledge to the leagues players and staff, and 
• Commit to supporting the queer and trans community who commit to supporting these athletes in their dreams every day.

Not only are Curls politics unacceptable, but her play style leads to too many injuries and dangerous challenges which risk the safety of other players. The 'apology' by Curl issued at the beginning of the 2024/25 season is nowhere near acceptable and she must be held accountable for her actions.

As a community, it's hard to rationalize whether this is an active choice to keep a terf in the league or if the league as a whole is not aware of these issues. Either way, it's shameful and ignorant of real issues.

Do better-
Sincerely, concerned fans