WATCH: Sophie Cunningham Doubles Down On Protecting Girls From Trans Athletes
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham was pressed on Wednesday about her recent comments regarding trans athletes in female sports and unequivocally reiterated her support for girls and women.
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Bucking the views expressed by the WNBA and some of its players, Cunningham said in an ESPN interview published Tuesday that female sports should be protected and biological males should not be allowed in these female-only spaces. When she was pressed about these comments the following day, Cunningham stood by her remarks and said her position is “common sense” and won’t change based on others’ negative or positive feedback.
“In that story with ESPN, you talked about wanting to protect young girls who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” a female reporter asked the athlete. “Can you expand your viewpoint on that?”
“I think I said what I said,” Cunningham responded. “It’s kind of common sense, 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 and I’m going to always believe that.”
“I’m not a very political person, but I do have beliefs,” she continued. “I have morals, and I’ll always stand on those and be true to who I am, and I think people are going to take it how they want to take it. … When it comes to protecting young girls in sport and women in sport, I feel very strongly about that.”
“That’s why you have Title IX — you have some of the greats in women’s sports,” she said. “If women’s sports weren’t protected, then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport.”
Asked about how this could be perceived by the “trans community,” Cunningham responded, “I extend love and I don’t dislike anyone. I think there is room for absolutely everyone here and I think there’s room to love everyone. … I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women and I think that there are rights that need to be protected and … I’m going to stand true to that. I’ll never falter in my beliefs in that, but I have never once said I hated the trans community.”
Cunningham said in the ESPN interview that she views her politics as “middle” of the road. A reporter on Wednesday asked her how she feels about being labeled or put in a box.
“I really don’t care,” Cunningham responded bluntly. “I know that sounds bad and I’m not trying to come off like that. … I know whatever I say, I’m gonna get hate and I’m gonna get love, and if I’m gonna live by the love, I’m going to die by the hate, and that’s just not who I am. I beat to my own drum.”
“I’m confident in who I am, I’m proud of who I am, I’m happy being me,” she said. “I really don’t care what other people have to say. I know who I am, my people know who I am, and, hopefully, I’m doing them proud … and making room for young boys and girls in our world to have a better future than we did.”
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I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.
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