The PWHL, for the first time, recognized International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31, 2026.

Each of the PWHL's eight teams posted variations of a similar message, with the league's main social media account writing "Today we celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility and the trans and non-binary individuals across our communities."

In 2025, the PWHL skipped the day while professional women's sports leagues including the NWSL and WNBA recognized gender inclusion and celebrated the transgender community.

The PWHL's posts come at a time when transgender people are under attack by American lawmakers, and in the days following the International Olympic Committee formally banning not only transgender and non-binary athletes, but many other gender diverse athletes, and those who have chromosomal and hormonal diversity. USA Hockey also recently banned transgender athletes from many teams and programs drastically reducing opportunities for participation.

While the presence of a message from the PWHL was a first step, fans pointed to issues surrounding the message, and lack of corresponding action.

When the PWHL made their post for International Transgender Day of Visibility, hundreds of replies echoed a singular sentiment - the message was nice, but rang hollow, lacked meaning, and felt empty in the absence of actionable support for the entirety of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the league's long promised Gender Inclusion Policy.

On several occasions spanning back to 2023, the PWHL has claimed a Gender Inclusion Policy was in the works and forthcoming, but nearing the close of the PWHL's third season, such a policy has yet to emerge.

Prior to the PWHL's inaugural season in December 2023, the league communicated with media that "The policy is on track for the commencement of the season and will be published when ready."

When the league dropped the puck in January 2024, no policy was present.

A month into the inaugural season the PWHL reiterated the claim saying "The PWHL is actively working on the development of an Inclusion Policy, through consultation and collaboration with various LGBTQI+ athletic advocacy groups and leaders."

In March 2025, when asked about the absence of the promised Gender Inclusion Policy, the league stated again they were working on it.

“It’s something that we’ve been continuing to work on, insuring that we get it right," said PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford. "We’ve really focused on education this season with our players and that started at our orientation camp with sessions where we made sure people feel educated enough to have an important discussion."

A year later as the league posted about the celebration of "trans and non-binary individuals across our communities" however, no Gender Inclusion Policy exists from the PWHL, nor PWHLPA.

It's unclear if at the moment, it's the PWHL or the PWHLPA however, who is holding up a Gender Inclusion Policy for the league, as any such policy would need participation and agreement from both groups. Agreement may not come as easily as some believe as some members of the PWHLPA, including Minnesota Frost PWHLPA Player Representative Britta Curl-Salemme, have actively campaigned for anti-trans organizations.

Britta Curl-Salemme entered the PWHL under a cloud of critique from fans who continue to boo the Minnesota Frost forward in buildings across the league. Curl-Salemme was caught making transphobic comments on social media, and liking posts referring to transgender people as "perverted" and "weirdos." Curl-Salemme issued a public video apology for her actions, and recently participated in an article published in The Athletic where reporter Hailey Salvian wrote that "Curl-Salemme has been vilified by progressives..."

Since then, however, Curl-Salemme backtracked in her actions by appearing as an ambassador for anti-trans organization FIERCE Athlete. 

FIERCE Athlete's anti-trans messaging, including instructing listeners on how they "can apply great courage through public action" to bar trans women from women's sport, or discussing "fighting against biological men competing in women’s sports and violating women’s locker room spaces," is clear.

The FIERCE Athlete website refers to transgender women as "disillusioned" men, refers to drag performances, an LGBTQ+ art form which historically spans to the 1870s, as "sexual hedonism," and also rallies against women's bodily autonomy.

But Curl-Salemme isn't alone in the PWHL. There is a small sect of players in the league who have shown support for similar agendas. And this PWHL Draft class will again welcome more athletes who have participated in FIERCE Athlete events supporting the removal of rights for the LGBTQ+ community and women.

This season, FIERCE Athlete welcomed members of Ohio State's women's hockey team to a breakfast event. Ohio State has been one of the PWHL's top prospect pipelines since inception.

"[A] highlight of their visit was a breakfast gathering with members of the OSU women’s ice hockey team, which provided meaningful conversation and encouragement," FIERCE Athlete wrote about their visit with members of Ohio State's women's hockey team in partnership with FOCUS missionaries. Ohio State captain Emma Peschel has liked multiple posts made by FIERCE Athlete's accounts, including Curl-Salemme's, and is projected as a potential first round pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft. Fellow Ohio State athlete, and future PWHL pick Joy Dunne is another prospect who follows FIERCE Athlete.

Several other current and prospective PWHL players liked Curl-Salemme's post with FIERCE Athletes, commented on the post, and have showed online support for anti-trans agendas.

Not all who "liked" the post however, did so with knowledge of FIERCE Athlete's agenda. Following The Hockey News' coverage of Curl-Salemme's participation in FIERCE Athlete's anti-trans athlete campaign, one current PWHL player who liked the post reached out to say they unequivocally stand with the trans community and disagree with the messaging of FIERCE Athlete. They stated they assumed it was simply a day-in-the-life video of a PWHL player, only later realizing the harmful message.

The PWHL itself has a large LGBTQ+ community both on and off the ice.

When the PWHL made their post recognizing International Transgender Day of Visibility, it was an opportunity to foster inclusion, and place the league as a leader in equity. 

Instead, the comments on their posts, mixed with fans calling for action and a Gender Inclusion Policy, were also riddled with unabated bigotry, hate, and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. 

With the exception of actions by the social media teams in Ottawa and Seattle, comments across the league's team platforms were permitted to run rampant without moderation. Fans called on the PWHL to act to moderate comments mocking and demeaning the transgender community, but days later the bulk of those comments remain present across the PWHL's networks. 

The Hockey News reached out to the PWHL regarding why the league chose not to "moderate bigotry, hate speech, and attacks on transgender communities on league social platforms on the International Transgender Day of Visibility." Over the last several months, the PWHL has refused to reply to media requests for comment regarding issues of equity and inclusion, including the use of PWHL game footage and recordings made on a PWHL team bench and on-ice used for an anti-trans campaign. 

The absence of a Gender Inclusion Policy is an issue in the eyes of fans that was highlighted by the unfettered bigotry and attacks against the transgender and non-binary communities permitted across PWHL social platforms on the International Transgender Day of Visibility. 

At the time of publication, the PWHL has not responded to requests seeking update on the status of the league's Gender Inclusion Policy, and why the league chose not to moderate transphobic comments on their posts for International Transgender Day of Visibility.