Supporters and critics of Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s stand against men in women’s sports gathered Sunday as the Fever faced the Minnesota Lynx at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a shirt that read “Trans kids belong” with a large rainbow under her blazer, showing her opposition to Cunningham’s stance, in the Lynx’s 108–100 win.
Cunningham has previously voiced her stance against allowing transgender-identifying athletes to compete in women’s sports, and her comments resurfaced in a July 21 ESPN article.
A day later, when asked to elaborate on her stance, Cunningham said, “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense. … It’s really important to protect children.”
“That’s why you have Title IX. That’s why you have some of the greats in women’s sports. You know, if Title IX and women’s sports weren’t protected then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport,” she said.
Cunningham emphasized she doesn’t “dislike anyone” and that she believes there is “room for everyone here.”
“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,” she said. “I’ll never falter in my beliefs in that, but I have never once said I hated the trans community.”
When Cunningham played her next game in Seattle following the All-Star break, a small crowd gathered outside the arena to support Cunningham and promote Washington state initiative IL26-638, called “Fairness in Girls’ Athletics,” which would bar male students from participating in girls’ athletics at schools, and IL26-001, which would expand the state’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
Cunningham was not available to speak after the game. Head coach Stephanie White told reporters that neither the team nor Cunningham had any knowledge of the rallies or contact with the organizers.
During the game, Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton got into an exchange with two Cunningham supporters in attendance.
The two girls, who said they were 16, wore “XX” “XY” shirts, and one of them had a sign that said, “Thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls.”
“This older lady comes up to us … and then she asks ‘What are you guys doing?’ and then it was like, ‘Jesus loves everyone’ ... and I was like ‘Oh, I know, like, I’m religious, I know’ ... and then she was like ‘Oh, I hope Jesus can forgive you for what sin you’ve done’ ... and then she told us we were [expletive] insane,’” one of the girls said after the game.
“I thought she was going to be nice, but then she started screaming at us and cussing at us,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to be political. I was just trying to support Sophie.”
Keaton was fined and suspended from the team’s next five home games, the WNBA said.
Cunningham showed her support for the two girls on X.
“Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You’ll be hearing from me soon. … Yay for gifts,” she said. “Truly embarrassing for the co-owner. Unfortunately shows the type of leader she is.”
The Fever traveled to Portland and Minnesota, where rallies in support of Cunningham and opposing transgender participation in women’s sports continued.
Before the game where she wore the “trans kids” shirt, Minnesota head coach Reeve said, “It is not the case that we have ‘biological men’ in girls’ locker rooms. The way it’s being phrased, the innuendo there that transgender women are somehow predators of some kind in the locker room. There’s a lot of narrative that is problematic that we need to address.”
Reeve had approached Cunningham before the contest at midcourt to talk to her. Reeve said she would “absolutely not” share with reporters what it was about.
Cunningham during a later interview said she respects Reeve for coming to talk to her in person. “She had stories about her point of view and I had stories about my point of view, and we left with love and respect.”
