Shooting guard for the WNBA team Indiana Fever, Sophie Cunningham, has been a major topic of discussion in the United States lately for her opposition to the involvement of trans women in women’s sport.
One of the people who has been championing this issue for a long time is Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer. She has been campaigning for the banning of biological men competing against biological women in sports since 2022.
Gaines went to the WNBA game between the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sunday, 2 August, to show her support for Cunningham. She was planning on doing so by holding up a sign that says: ‘Sophie, Thank You, A Girl Mom.’
However, WNBA staff approached her on the stands and asked her to put down the sign. Former gymnast and Levi executive Jennifer Sey was also with Gaines at the game; she was the one who originally shared that their sign was asked to be removed on social media.
The two posed for a photo with Cunningham herself, holding the placard in question, after the game.
Gaines appeared on the show Hannity on Fox News later to talk about the incident.
There, she told the audience that, ‘The league [WNBA] often says that they have a problem with people like Sophie bringing politics into sports. The league doesn’t have a problem with politics in sports. They have a problem with conservative politics in sports.’
As she pointed out, the WNBA seemingly had no problem with Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wearing a t-shirt with the text ‘Trans Kids Belong’ in the very same game.
What Started the Sophie Cunningham Trans Controversy?
Women’s basketball player Sophie Cunningham was profiled by an ESPN piece in July 2026. In the article, Cunningham was quoted as saying, ‘I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. 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.’
Following the publication of the piece and the consequent controversy that erupted online, Cunningham has published a set of images of herself on her Instagram page with the caption, ‘I said what I said.’ That post has garnered over 950,000 likes.
Since the start of the controversy, Cunningham has been booed by fans in multiple stadiums in cities such as Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and—most recently—Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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