caitlin clark weighs in on sophie cunningham’s transgender athlete comments
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caitlin clark has broken her silence on comments made by teammate sophie cunningham about transgender athletes in women’s sports.
“i think it’s for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions,” clark, 24, told reporters following her team’s 108-100 loss to the minnesota lynx on sunday.
“our focus is on basketball,” she continued. “that’s what we talk about and how we can get wins, and, obviously, we didn’t do that tonight.”
a follow-up question was shut down by clark, who said sternly, “i just answered for you.”
what did sophie say?
the wnba star’s safe answer comes nearly two weeks after cunningham told espn, “i got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. i’m like, ‘i never once said that.’”
cunningham noted: “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.”
demonstrators have shows up outside arenas of the fever’s last three games, some to show their support for the trans community, others to show their love for cunningham’s comments.
women’s sports advocate riley gaines was at sunday’s game and posted photos, including one of herself standing courtside holding a sign that read, “sophie, thank you – a girl mom.”
lynx coach cheryl reeve wore a “trans kids belong” shirt on the sidelines, to which gaines shared a pic of herself and cunningham pointing, with the caption, “little girls belong!”
gaines also noted on x that while there were at least 1,000 signs in the arena, “most with trans paraphernalia,” she was the only one told by wnba officials to put hers down.
“wonder why,” she asked.
cunningham and reeve talk it out
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before the game, cunningham and reeve were seen having a mid-court conversation, but the coach didn’t reveal details from the chat.
“both of us understand that we have platforms and we both talked about wanting to, more than anything, educate,” reeve told reporters. “there are some things that we have in common, and maybe some things you differ on, just like any issues. i think it’s how you handle things. it was nice to be in person, for sure.”
cunningham, meanwhile, was booed by the crowd throughout the game.
the shooting guard previously told reporters in portland that she didn’t think the rallies were becoming a distraction for her or her teammates.
“i think everyone who knows me personally, they know that i’m full of love. i’m bubbly. i love the people around me,” cunningham said on friday. “i love basketball. i love inspiring the next generation and doing that in a positive light. and so that doesn’t even cross my mind. doesn’t cross my teammates’ minds.”
up until sunday’s loss, the fever had won five in a row.
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