INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham doubled down Wednesday on comments she made in a recently published ESPN article, saying it\u2019s \u201ccommon sense\u201d to bar transgender athletes from competing in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n
In the ESPN article<\/a>, Cunningham said she wanted to \u201cprotect young girls in the locker room\u201d and that \u201cthey shouldn\u2019t have to go against biological men.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said what I said. I think it\u2019s kind of common sense,\u201d Cunningham said before Indiana\u2019s 123-88 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday. \u201cAnd I think I\u2019ll always believe in that. I think it\u2019s really important to protect children, and that\u2019s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n The participation of transgender athletes in sports has become an increasingly politicized issue, with the Supreme Court recently upholding individual state bans<\/a> on trans athletes competing in sports alongside cisgender athletes. The ruling came roughly a year after President Donald Trump issued an executive order<\/a> attempting to block trans athletes from competing in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n Cunningham said that she\u2019s \u201cnot a very political person,\u201d but her morals compelled her to speak out. She also stated that her stance on trans athletes is not indicative of which side of the political aisle she falls on.<\/p>\n Cunningham noted the importance of Title IX, a gender equality law passed in 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. The groundbreaking law is credited with exponentially increasing participation in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why you have Title IX. That\u2019s why you have some of the greats in women\u2019s sports,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cIf Title IX and women\u2019s sports weren\u2019t protected, then you wouldn\u2019t hear about any type of women in sport. And so, I think in the future, it\u2019s just really important to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if she thought her comments could be viewed as derogatory toward trans athletes, Cunningham said she doesn\u2019t \u201cdislike anyone\u201d and there is \u201croom to love everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m also there to love biological women, and I think that there are rights that need to be protected,\u201d Cunningham continued. \u201cAnd, like I said, I\u2019m gonna stand true to that. I\u2019ll never falter in my beliefs in that. But I have never once stated that I hated the trans community.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fever released a statement shortly after Cunningham\u2019s pregame comments that encouraged inclusivity among its fanbase. The franchise has regularly held Pride nights to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n \u201cOur players are thoughtful adults with their own perspectives and voices, and those views are their own,\u201d the Fever said in their statement. \u201cWe are committed to welcoming fans from every background and treating everyone with respect, and that\u2019s what guides us as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunningham said she doesn\u2019t care what people think of her since going public with her thoughts on transgender athletes. She acknowledged her blunt response to potential backlash \u201csounds bad,\u201d but won\u2019t stop her from sharing her opinion.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone always is coming at it as a negative,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWell, me coming out with that, there are so many people who are coming out with the positive, saying, \u2018You know what? Finally, someone has said something.\u2019 And I don\u2019t really look at either side of those because I know whatever I say, I\u2019m going to get hate and I\u2019m going to get love, and if I\u2019m going to live by the love, I\u2019m gonna die by the hate, and that\u2019s just not who I am. I beat to my own drum.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunningham is in her second season with the Fever. She was acquired via a trade with the Phoenix Mercury in February 2025 and re-signed with Indiana on a one-year deal in April. Cunningham is averaging 9.3 points per game and shooting 42.9 percent on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham doubled down Wednesday on comments she made in a recently published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,569,2803,5916,82,630],"class_list":["post-820227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-culture","tag-indiana-fever","tag-missouri-tigers","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}