HERO: Sophie Cunningham STANDS UP for girls and women, says they shouldn’t have to compete against biological males in sports

US women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe won't do it and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles won't do it, which makes Cunningham's comments in favor of truth and reality really stand out. Cunningham doesn't have to take issue with trans people to be able to stand up for women's rights.

In an interview with ESPN, Cunningham said she will speak out to "protect women's sports." She's in a unique position to know what that means as a woman playing in a women's basketball league. "I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans," she said.

"And I'm like 'I never once said that.' 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," she said.

And of course, she's right. Men have no place on women's sports teams and just looking at those fellas who join women's teams, claiming they are female, makes that clear. Women have been injured, lost opportunities, made to stand second or third place to male players.

Cunningham also rejected the idea that her view on women's rights and protecting those rights in athletic competition could be used to pigeon hole her political views. "I'm very much in the middle," she said. "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."

The Supreme Court backs up Cunningham. They recently ruled that states were permitted to uphold and protect the rights of women and girls by keeping men out of women's competition. And this isn't the first time Cunningham has spoken up.

In March 2022, she criticized NCAA swimming for allowing Lia (William) Thomas to compete against women at the collegiate level. Thomas, playing for UPenn, met University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines in the pool and Gaines spoke up about the unfairness of swimming against a man but also took public issue with the preferential treatment Thomas was given by the NCAA—they both came in 5th Gaines was told the trophy would go to Thomas.

Cunningham shared a post that said "Female athletes deserve so much better than this." Amid the backlash, she said "To my teammates, friends, family, supporters and fans, you know that I stand with all people, especially my fellow athletes. I do not judge, but support all races, religions, sexual preferences and gender equity. We all have a place in this world to compete and I hope we are able to grant everyone that opportunity fairly."

Biles criticized Gaines in 2025 over her stance on upholding women and girls' rights, saying "Riley Gaines You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!"

"This is actually so disappointing," Gaines responded. "It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest."

Rapinoe said the Olympics restriction on only allowing women to play women's sports was "hateful." She also claimed that the effort to keep men out of women's sports is racist, saying that the effort to protect women's sports is about "attacking women. We're saying if you look like this as a woman, you can play." She also claimed that female athletes will be put through sex testing, "an invasive like examining their genitals to see if they're a woman."

This, she said, would mean "black girls are going to get questioned more, and they're going to get questioned first... They don't like women in sports because it helps us with confidence and power, and we see so many women in the C-suite played elite level sports. It's just great for you physically and all of it, but it's an attack on women in society, and I think."

While some states have passed laws protecting the rights of women and girls to compete on a fair playing field, many other states have not and have instead passed the reverse law, saying that men who claim to be women must be included in women's sports. Women athletes who claim to be men remain on women's teams as they cannot physically compete in male sport.