After Backlash From Radical Left — Sophie Cunningham Doubles Down on Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports: “I Said What I Said”
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is refusing to back down.
After an ESPN profile in which the 29-year-old star said she wants to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” the radical left predictably lost its mind. Accusations of “hate” and “transphobia” poured in.
Speaking to reporters before Wednesday’s game against the Connecticut Sun, Cunningham made it crystal clear she is not walking anything back.
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” she declared. “I think I’ll always believe in that. It’s really important to protect children. And that’s little girls, who are also involved in that category. I stand by what I said and I’ll always believe that.”
She added: “I’m not a very political person, but I do have beliefs. I have morals, and I’ll always stand on those.”
Cunningham pointed to Title IX as the reason women’s sports even exist. Without sex-based categories rooted in biological reality, she argued, the entire purpose of women’s athletics collapses.
In the original ESPN interview that triggered the left’s rage, Cunningham rejected the smear 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 said. “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.”
Sophie Cunningham responds to criticism over her recent comments to ESPN about wanting to protect women's sports from "biological men."
"I said what I said. I think it's kind of common sense.
When it comes just to protecting young girls in sport and women in sport, I feel very… pic.twitter.com/2uh0MWj8zM
— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) July 23, 2026