Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham does not believe that female athletes should have to share a locker room or compete against biological males.
For simply protecting women’s sports and young girls, the eight-year WNBA veteran has received tremendous pushback from many in the media and recently addressed the fallout that feels like it may never fully end.
Cunningham joined USA Network’s WNBA broadcast on Wednesday evening, certainly knowing she would be asked about her opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports and the pushback that has come along with that.
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Elle Duncan, formerly of ESPN, didn’t want to revisit “the actual issue that brought us to this point” during her conversation with Cunningham, but instead asked her specifically about the WNBA’s suspension of Seattle Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton.
Keaton allegedly called a pair of teenage Sophie Cunningham fans “f—ing insane” during Indiana’s win in Seattle on July 28. Duncan asked Cunningham to share her thoughts over the owner-fan interaction, which is when she addressed the overall fallout over her opinion that women’s sports should be exclusive to biological women.
“I think I have a very clear and strong perspective on this,” referring to the topic of trans athletes in women’s sports. “I know that people are not always going to align and agree, I totally understand that, but I think the most important thing is having that respect, having that love, and pursuing peace in these conversations, in these debates, because I think that it’s healthy.
“With that being said, I just hate how The W, the basketball of it all, is just getting overshadowed…It just makes me sad that all this sort of drama, on things that truly don’t matter, that the basektball is getting overshadowed. My biggest thing is that love and respect, there is room for absolutely everybody, and we don’t always have to agree, but that respect and love definitely has to be there.”
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Cunningham’s comments on USA Network were similar to those she shared earlier on Wednesday, claiming that all the WNBA media does is “cover everything except basketball.”
While Cunningham has long been among the most popular players in the WNBA, her rise to the center of the women’s basketball universe came after ESPN published a story on July 21 in which she addressed trans athletes 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 the outlet. “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.”
“I’m very much in the middle. I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides,” Cunningham continued.” And that’s all I’ve ever said about my political beliefs. But people love to assume.”
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Cunningham said that her interview with ESPN took place back in February of this year.
A New York Times poll conducted in March 2025 found that 79% of Americans believe that men should be barred from competing in women’s sports.
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