Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham sparked plenty of backlash this summer with her comments on transgender athletes in women’s sports. And she doesn’t seem to have any interest in staying out of the debate this offseason.
Cunningham has now weighed in on a viral protest out of Washington, where members of a high school girls’ cross-country team walked off the course in protest of a transgender teammate. Cunningham offered her support for the runners.
Cunningham’s Past Comments
Cunningham first drew national attention for her views on the topic in a July ESPN feature, saying she wanted to “protect women’s sports.”
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham said, via 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.”
Cunningham later doubled down on her comments, saying her opinion was “common sense.”
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said the following week. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
Camas Protest
On Oct. 13, about half of the 24 runners on the Camas High School girls’ cross country team walked away from a meet against Battle Ground High School, according to KUOW. They were protesting the inclusion of a transgender junior who had moved from the boys’ team to the girls’ team earlier in the season.
The Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association has allowed athletes to compete on teams that align with their gender identity for nearly 20 years, and it says it knows of fewer than 10 transgender athletes statewide. The protest also comes as Washington voters weigh Initiative 638, and one of its backers said the student could be sent back to the boys’ team if the measure passes.
Video of the walkoff quickly went viral, with the student’s name and race results also spreading online. A district meet involving Camas was later moved to a different location due to security concerns.
The XX-XY Athletics Instagram account shared footage of the protest, and Cunningham weighed in on the issue with a comment on the post.
“Good work girls,” Cunningham wrote.
Obviously, Cunningham isn’t backing away from the topic. But considering the target of this particular protest is a high school student, her comment likely won’t do much to cool things down.
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