WNBA star defends efforts to ban trans athletes from youth sports

WNBA star Sophie Cunningham is defending her comments supporting efforts in some states to ban transgender athletes from youth sports, a right the Supreme Court upheld with a ruling earlier this summer.

Cunningham, in an extensive interview with ESPN published this week, spoke about the importance of efforts to “protect women’s sports,” saying she was qualified to weigh in as a former young female athlete.

“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.”

Cunningham further insisted she is not sympathetic to any particular political party or specific set of issues.

“I’m very much in the middle,” she continued. “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.”

Cunningham is a teammate of WNBA star Caitlin Clark and is one of the league’s most outspoken athletes.

Some have mused about her running for public office someday.

“So how do we save our farm land and stop all these dumb data centers?” Cunningham wrote in a social media post last week.

The shooting guard recently served as a ring girl for a UFC fight and went viral on social media for pointing at an opponent during a Fever game.

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