Sophie Cunningham’s Transgender Stance Sparks Pre-game Rally at Seattle

Sophie Cunningham frequently states she has been put on this planet “to extend love.” Yet, the Indiana Fever forward has suddenly become a lightning rod in the debate over transgender athletes in women’s sports.The Fever play at Portland on Friday night, followed by a game at Minneapolis on Sunday against the Minnesota Lynx. By then, Ms. Cunningham’s stance against transgender athletes playing in the WNBA will or won’t be a full-blown controversy.A “With Love is Truth” rally held outside Climate Pledge Arena before the Fever’s 105-95-win over the Seattle Storm Tuesday night may be an early indicator. A few dozen people gathered to support Ms. Cunningham and promote statewide initiatives 638 and 011, which would bar transgender students from participating in girls’ athletics at Washington schools.Some attending the rally displayed signs featuring Ms. Cunningham’s widely shared phrases, including, “I said what I said” and “with love is truth.” Counter-protestors were also present, carrying LGBTQ flags and signs.The debate over Ms. Cunningham’s remarks began after a recent ESPN profile where she briefly discussed the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports. “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.”Ms. Cunningham didn’t back down days later, telling reporters: “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense…I’m not a very political person, but I do have beliefs. I have morals, and I’ll always stand on these.”Reaction wasn’t limited to outside the arena. Seattle Storm star Stefanie Dolson wore a pregame T-shirt that read: “Trans rights are human rights.”Neither Ms. Cunningham nor Ms. Clark was made available to reporters after Tuesday’s game, but the Indiana Fever issued a statement distancing the team from the rally. “Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers,” the statement said. “Our only goal as a team, whether at home or away, is to win basketball games and make Fever fans for life, and we are united in that mission.”Storm head coach Sonia Raman addressed the pregame rally in general terms. “Seattle and this organization and Climate Pledge, we always want to be an area where people feel welcome coming into this building,” she said. “I think we’ve always done a really good job with that. I know our organization was working closely with Climate Pledge and the security just to make sure that everybody feels safe and included and welcome when they walk in this door.”Ms. Cunningham has received a mixture of support and backlash for comments on transgender athletes. “Very disgusting person,” one person posted.“She is a stain on this league and a stain on society,” posted another. Another person who posted on the rally said, “The only point of this ‘rally’ is to spread hate and make trans folks feel unsafe in spaces where they’ve previously found comfort. Sophie Cunningham should be ashamed that this is her legacy.”Meanwhile, transgender pioneer Renee Richards is among those who believe biological men have an inherent physical advantage over biological women. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt applauded Ms. Cunningham’s stance, saying “the American public” broadly agrees with her position.Interestingly, the co-host on Ms. Cunningham’s podcast, Show Me Something, West Wilson, sees the issue as more of a political debate than a practical one.“Transgender athletes in American sports is such a borderline nonexistent issue that right-wingers have convinced a massive portion of people in our country that it— that these people are like a threat to sports in America when mathematically that’s not the case at all,” he said in a TikTok video.“There is like 10 transgender athletes in all of the NCAA, and so I think there are unique questions that can be handled on an individual basis, but to allow this to take our attention away from, like housing and healthcare and wars and all the other actual harmful (stuff) in our country is dumb,” he added.

Sophie Cunningham’s Transgender Stance Sparks Pre-game Rally at Seattle

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