A WNBA player is standing up for a woman’s right not to have to share a locker room with a man.
Sophie Cunningham, a player for the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark’s teammate, has been a popular figure lately, and her streak doesn’t seem to be coming to an end.
‘I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans.’
Cunningham broke the internet late last month following an on-court spat with opponents in which she literally pointed a finger at another player for more than 30 seconds, immediately becoming a viral meme.
Cunningham parlayed that incident into being a UFC ring girl on July 11 for one of the biggest fights of the year.
Now, the Missouri native is busting out of the leftist bubble that surrounds WNBA players by standing up for young women and girls who are forced to compete against males in sports.
In an interview with ESPN published Tuesday, Cunningham directly addressed the issue of how to “protect women’s sports,” telling the outlet that she is qualified to speak about the topic.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” she began. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest.”
Then Cunningham dropped a line that will no doubt be controversial in the progressive women’s league: “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
RELATED: WNBA star says black women are ‘amazing’ and deserve equality in strange, race-riddled rant
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
At the same time, Cunningham stated that she’s politically “very much in the middle.”
“I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides. And that’s all I’ve ever said about my political beliefs. But people love to assume,” Cunningham added.
The basketball player said the accusation that she is a “MAGA Barbie” is a projection from others because of how she looks and where she comes from. She also made it clear that her position on men in women’s sports is not a window into her true beliefs, either.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Title IX, allowing states to protect biologically female athletes against males who claim they are women, Cunningham’s statement is now basically the law of the land.
“Sophie didn’t say anything hateful. She said something true,” Jennifer Sey, women’s sports advocate and former national gymnastics champion, told Blaze News. “She is the Sydney Sweeney of women’s sports. Hot. Funny. Politics that confuse people.”
RELATED: Europe bans ‘sexualization’ of female athletes on camera, but viewers are stating the obvious
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Fellow advocate for women in sports and former NCAA athlete Riley Gaines reacted to Cunningham’s comments on X on Tuesday night, simply saying, “It’s nothing more than the truth to say men aren’t women. It’s not hateful, it’s just honest.”
“This is big,” Gaines reinforced. “We’ve waited YEARS for a current pro female athlete to take a stance on this issue.”
Cunningham’s rise to stardom has also come as she is viewed as an enforcer for star player Clark, with the viral pointing moment coming after her teammate took a fist to the throat.
Cunningham rejected the title in her recent interview, though, saying, “I am not a bodyguard. I am just going to do whatever the team needs. And if my teammates need me to stick up for them, I will do that.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Read the full article here
