Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has quickly become the most polarizing player in the WNBA over the past few weeks.
During a July feature with ESPN, Cunningham said she wants to "protect young girls" from competing against biological men in sports. Her comments sparked a lot of outrage within the WNBA community, but she refused to back down from her initial stance.
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense…” Cunningham said. “I think it’s really important to protect children… I don’t dislike anyone. … I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women.”
After those remarks were made, a pro-Sophie Cunningham rally was held in Seattle. There was also an alleged incident where two young WNBA fans were harassed by a Storm owner for supporting Cunningham.
“Well, we were just sitting there with our signs that said like, ‘We love Sophie,’ like, ‘Thank you Sophie for speaking up.’ And so we were holding on, just watching the game, again, like, we were being super great, we hadn’t said anything to anyone else, we were being super respectful, we were just holding our signs and cheering for both teams, and this lady, older lady comes up to us,” one of the girls said. “That just took me by surprise because I thought she was going to be nice and then she starts like screaming at us and cussing at us.”
Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images.
Sophie isn't backing down.
While on USA Network's broadcast this Wednesday night, Cunningham addressed all the fallout from her interview with ESPN. She made it clear that her perspective on this situation won't be altered by public opinion.
"I think I have a very clear and strong perspective on this. 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," Cunningham said. "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 basketball 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."
Hopefully, the WNBA's focus can shift back to the actual product on the hardwood. However, this debate regarding transgender inclusion in sports has been going on long before Cunningham's statements.
