Sophie Cunningham Doubles Down on Keeping Biological Men Out of Women's Sports

Sophie Cunningham isn't backing off. The Indiana Fever guard told ESPN in a recent feature interview that she wants biological men kept out of girls' and women's sports. When the backlash hit, she didn't walk it back. She doubled down at a press conference on Wednesday, July 22. "I said what I said," Cunningham told reporters. "I think it's kind of common sense, and I think I will always believe in that. I think it's really important to protect children."

What She Actually Said

In the ESPN interview, Cunningham pushed back on the idea that she hates transgender people. "I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" she told ESPN. "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." At the Wednesday press conference, she repeated the same framing: "I don't dislike anyone. I'm there to love, but I'm also there to love biological women." Breitbart reported that a strong majority of Americans, including Democrats, support keeping biological men out of women's sports, and the outlet separately claimed the Supreme Court affirmed that position in a 6-3 decision last month.

Where She Says

She Stands Politically Cunningham has been tagged "MAGA Barbie" by critics online, a label she rejects. "I'm 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," she told ESPN, according to The Comeback. She also pointed to a 2022 moment when she retweeted a post supporting Riley Gaines-style objections to Lia Thomas competing in women's collegiate swimming, then followed up with a statement saying she supports "all races, religions, sexual preferences and gender equality" and wants everyone to "compete fairly," according to GO Magazine.

The Other Side of the Argument GO

Magazine's framing is worth stating plainly because it represents the strongest counter-argument in circulation. The outlet claims that "more and more, studies and evidence show that trans girls, especially if they are allowed to transition before puberty, do not pose a competitive or safety threat to cisgender girls in sports." That's the position advocates for transgender inclusion make, and it deserves to be represented accurately rather than dismissed. But that claim is contested, not settled. Sports scientists on the other side point to retained bone density, lung capacity, and muscle mass advantages that persist even after hormone therapy. Neither side's factual claims here were independently verified by peer-reviewed data in any of the source reporting. It's a real, ongoing scientific and legal dispute, not settled science on either end.

The Fever's Response

Indiana didn't take a side. "Our players are thoughtful adults with their own perspectives and voices, and those views are their own. We are committed to welcoming fans from every background and treating everyone with respect, and that's what guides us as an organization," the team said, according to Breitbart. That's a deliberate non-answer, and probably the smart one for a franchise trying to keep both Caitlin Clark's massive new fanbase and its existing audience happy.

The Bigger Picture Around

Her The Comeback noted Cunningham has recently started speaking out more broadly, including a social media post criticizing data centers days before the ESPN interview aired. ESPN's Chuck Klosterman, appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, speculated Cunningham could be a vice presidential candidate by 2050, saying, "I don't know what party she'll be in, I don't know anything about her political views. But she will be the vice presidential candidate, at least the candidate." GO Magazine also referenced a letter from 11 Republican lawmakers to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert arguing that physical fouls against Clark may be racially motivated, a separate controversy tangled up in the same culture-war dynamics swirling around the Fever this season. That letter and the backlash to Cunningham's comments aren't formally connected, but they're both symptoms of the same fight over what the WNBA's rapidly growing, more conservative-leaning fanbase wants versus what the league's existing base expects. Cunningham hasn't said whether she'll address the topic again. Given the pattern so far, doubling down rather than retreating, it's a safe bet she will if asked.