Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham has become the center of the culture wars this week, as she reiterated her opinion that trans athletes should be banned from women’s sports. Her Wednesday comments reiterated an opinion that she had already expressed in an article on ESPN on Tuesday.
Following Indiana’s victory on Wednesday night, she told the press:
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said before Indiana’s 123-88 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
Fans didn’t take long to react to the news, with some on X thinking that Cunningham was hypocritical and offensive against the trans community.
“She played high school football on the boys team. This is extremely hypocritical,”
More fans seem to think this kind of rhetoric endangered the trans community.
Yet, some fans agreed with Cunningham’s viewpoints.
What did Sophie Cunningham originally say about trans athletes in women’s sports?
During an interview with ESPN, which published on Tuesday, the Indiana Fever player pushed back against the idea that she was anti trans. However, she did state that she doesn’t believe biological men belong in women’s sports:
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham told ESPN. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Sophie Cunningham also framed herself as independent politically, stating that she agrees with different sides of the aisle on different issues. Beyond that, she refused to state any political affiliation.
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