By Quinn Delamater

WNBA player Sophie Cunningham grabbed a lot of headlines this week after saying she believes “truth” requires protecting women from biological men invading their sports. 

The basketball star told ESPN on Tuesday, “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.”

One user slammed her position on X, “Sophie Cunningham is unafraid. Unafraid to be blatantly transphobic.”

Another account posted, “Sophie Cunningham has to be suspended today. You @WNBA can’‘t claim to have 'No Space for Hate’ and then suspend Sandy Brondelo for her comments but allow Sophie to be wildly transphobic in a ESPN article and skate away without consequences. The punishment must be equal.”

After generating chatter on social media, the 29-year-old guard for the Indiana Fever doubled down on Wednesday when speaking with reporters before her team’s game against the Connecticut Sun. “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham asserted. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”

Cunningham and Caitlin Clark, another guard for the Indiana Fever, are considered to be the two most popular WNBA stars. 

“Sophie has proven she is a defender, she is bold, and she is completely in tune with the spirit of sport. She isn’t letting brand deals or politics control or distract her — she’s simply unafraid to say what everyone is thinking,” Macy Charles, a legislative strategist for Concerned Women of America told The Washington Stand. 

Cunningham cited Title IX as a reason for fairness in women’s sports. “That’s why you have some of the greats in women’s sports,” Cunningham said. “If Title IX and women’s sports weren’t protected, then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport. And so, I think in the future, it’s just really important to protect.”

“And, like I said, I’m gonna stand true to that,” she continued. I’ll never falter in my beliefs in that.“

Despite speaking out, Cunningham is tight-lipped about her political beliefs. 

Charles pointed out that Cunningham recognizes the commonsense purpose of the WNBA. "She also knows her opportunities were made possible because she wasn’t expected to participate in the NBA — equality and fairness were exactly why the WNBA was created. She is preserving that for those coming after her. Sophie said she spoke ‘in love,’ and that’s important. Scripture tells us that love rejoices in the truth. Speaking truth in love isn’t a contradiction. It’s exactly what we’re called to do.”

Cunningham’s views are also incredibly mainstream, New York Times/Ipsos polling shows. A whopping 80% of Americans believe biological men should not compete in women’s sports — including 67% of Democrats. Among Republicans, support for the star guard’s position is almost unanimous: 94%.

At a press conference at the White House on Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the situation.

“The backlash she [Sophie Cunningham] is receiving from Democrats and left-wing figures across the country is astonishing. They are clearly very out of touch with the American public on this issue, which again, is an 80/20 issue. It’s common sense. It’s rooted in basic biological fact that men should not be competing against women on playing fields across the country,” Leavitt said. 

Other politicians outside of the White House rallied behind Cunningham on X, including Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Rep. Eli Crane (Ariz.). Fellow athletes Riley Gaines and Martina Navratilova also showed support. 

Jennifer Sey, the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, posted on X, “Let this be a lesson to other high level female athletes … if you are a draw, speak up. They won’t can you.”

Ella Frei, a 17-year-old high school volleyball player from Wisconsin who has said she faced online harassment after criticizing her school’s transgender bathroom policy, also posted, “Thank you @sophaller for being the first female superstar athlete to have my back. It means the world to me.”

Briley Lechner, a high school volleyball player in Michigan who was forced to share a locker room with a biological male identifying as a female from an opposing team, commented that she is inspired by Cunningham as well: “Watching @sophaller say it out loud — that girls shouldn’t have to give up fair competition or our privacy — meant more than she’ll ever know. When a WNBA star says it, maybe people finally listen. I know what it’s like to have your voice on this treated like it’s hateful. It isn’t. Wanting a fair game and a private locker room was never hate. It’s just the truth, and I’m done being afraid to say it. Thank you, Sophie, for going first. You made it easier for the rest of us.”

Quinn Delamater is a reporter for The Washington Stand.

This article originally appeared here.