Sophie Cunningham Receives 'True American Hero' Honor Amid WNBA Controversy

WNBA guard Sophie Cunningham isn’t backing down from her comments on transgender athletes in women’s sports.

The Indiana Fever guard told ESPN that it’s “common sense” to keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports. Cunningham said that she wants to “protect young girls in the locker room” and that “they shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

Cunningham, who is in her second season with the Indiana Fever, told USA TODAY that she’s standing by what she said.

“People are like, ‘You have a platform. Use it,’ and then once you use it, it’s like, ‘Go back to playing basketball.’ I think the reason why I stated that is because you go into media, and it’s not anything even about basketball. I think I could do both,” Cunningham told USA TODAY Sports. “Ask me about what’s going on and what I said. And also ask me how great my teammates are doing, how great our team is doing, how great the league is doing.

“We can be a great example of how to do both.”

One main thing has resulted from Cunningham’s comments: people are taking sides.

Many are praising Cunningham for her comments, while others are speaking out against her.

Cunningham has received an ‘American hero’ label amid the controversy

Longtime U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has officially labeled Sophie Cunningham a “true American hero” amid the controversy.

“Fantastic. Thank you for so ferociously defending women & girls. Sophie is a true American hero,” he shared on X.

Cunningham, meanwhile, told USA TODAY that she hopes the WNBA will take stronger stances.

“You do have to have a person in power who is bold, who is confident, who wants the best for the players and not maybe for themselves all the time. So I do feel like, as a whole, that could be a position that’s maybe open at the end of the year, but that’s not my call,” Cunningham said. “(Cathy Engelbert’s) done a lot of good things, but with where our league is trying to go, I feel like you just want someone who also wants that. That’s just a hard position to be in, in her shoes, us as players ― we always want more, more, more because we see how good it can be, but … that’s up to Adam Silver at the end of the day.”