TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) – The Toronto Raptors basketball team has apologized for a video in which players acknowledge that only women can give birth, amid a flurry of condemnation from left-wing activists.

The Daily Caller reports that on March 1, the team posted to social media a Women’s History Month video asking why “girls rule the world” with point guard Malachi Flynn answering that women “are the only one that can procreate,” and center Precious Achiuwa that “they birth everybody.”

Despite being biologically accurate, the comments in the video were slammed for offending the sensibilities of those who believe that “gender identity” is “fluid.” SB Nation editor Jeanna Kelly, for instance, declared that “one way to show you actually want to celebrate and empower women would be helping provide menstrual products to people who need them” promoting a group that fights for “period equity.”

“We’re an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a mistake,” the Raptors responded. “Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans – we’ll work to do better today and every day after.”

Many saw the team’s apology as cowardice, including former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Andrew Bogut.

Not sure if the team apologized because they think “men” can get pregnant or because they think players focusing on procreation is too reductive. Either way, the @Raptors are SOFT. Men built the arena they call home and women birthed EVERY SINGLE PERSON who attends their games. https://t.co/iUvXvQp0Zx

— Delano Squires (@DelanoSquires) March 3, 2023

Soft as butter @Raptors apologising because one of their players said only women can procreate, during Women History Month!

I’ll say it for you.

Only WOMEN can have babies.

Media: Not triggered or angry, laughing at how stupid this ideology is!

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 https://t.co/ZX5PvlcLZo

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) March 3, 2023

It is an article of progressive faith that gender is no more than a matter of self-perception which individuals are free to change at will, with no correlation to biological sex, which in reality is rooted in an individual’s chromosomes and reflected by hundreds of genetic characteristics.

Only females are physically capable of bearing children, though pro-LGBT activists who feel differently would like to reorient society’s understanding of gender to refer exclusively to perception. To that end, the media frequently promotes stories about “pregnant trans men” (who are actually women suffering from gender dysphoria) and research about transplanting wombs into men who “identify” as women. 

Absent such semantic maneuvers or artificial machinations, however, all “birthing persons” are in fact mothers.