Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Basketball star and internet sensation Sophie Cunningham has become a lightning rod in the debate over transgender athletes in women’s sports after her call to “protect young girls” in locker rooms drew White House praise. WNBA guard Cunningham first soared to popularity last year as the so-called “enforcer” for her Indiana Fever teammate Caitlin Clark, frequently exacting physical on-court retribution against opponents who mess with the league’s most famous player. Footage of Cunningham coolly staring down and pointing mockingly at one such foe for 22 unflinching seconds following a scuffle last month went viral, launching countless memes.
But the 6-foot-1 blonde from Missouri — nicknamed “MAGA Barbie” by some observers in a league increasingly riven by racial tensions and stereotypes — is drawing headlines this week for her views on trans athletes. “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” she told ESPN in an interview published Tuesday. “I think it’s kind of common sense…it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category,” she told reporters before a game Wednesday. Her comments have further stoked what is already one of the United States’ most fiercely contested culture-war battles.
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Republican president Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted gender non-conforming people, and last year issued an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, allowing federal agencies to halt funding to any institution that resists. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday leapt to Cunningham’s defense, dubbing “left-wing” backlash against the star player “ludicrous” and “astonishing.” Trump “is following the story. As you know, this is something the president feels strongly about as well, and the American people do too,” Leavitt said.
Last month, the US Supreme Court upheld laws in more than two dozen Republican-led states prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s school sports. Supporters of the laws say they are needed to preserve fair competition and protect athletic opportunities for girls and women. Opponents say the laws single out a tiny number of vulnerable students for exclusion and discrimination, turning children’s participation in school sports into a national political battleground.
For her part, Cunningham says she is “not a very political person” and “very much in the middle,” but spoke out because of her moral beliefs and her expertise as a top female athlete. “I have never once said I hated the trans community…I think there’s space for everyone,” she said, before the Fever’s 123-88 win over the Connecticut Sun in Indianapolis on Wednesday. “When it comes just to protecting young girls in sport and women in sport, I feel very strongly about that. I think that’s why you have Title IX,” she added, referring to a seminal 1972 US gender-equal funding law that hugely boosted female sports participation. “That’s why you have some of the greats in women’s sports. If Title IX and women’s sports weren’t protected, then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport.”
But Cunningham’s outspoken opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports is in contrast to the WNBA and many of its teams. The league has not followed other sports organizations like the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in effectively banning trans athletes from female sports. Cunningham’s team, the Indiana Fever, on Wednesday issued a statement saying: “Our players are thoughtful adults with their own perspectives and voices, and those views are their own.” Many fans voiced outrage at Cunningham’s comments, with sports broadcaster Chris Williamson calling them “repugnant” on social media. “I really don’t care what other people have to say. I know who I am,” said Cunningham, when asked about the reaction. “My people know who I am, and hopefully, I’m doing them proud and making room for young boys and girls in our world to have a better future than we did.”
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