Indiana Fever, Portland Fire coaches call for inclusivity amid Sophie Cunningham’s transgender concerns

Last week, Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham kicked open the door to a very public discussion around transgender athlete participation in women’s sports.

It’s a conversation that has been happening in earnest across league social media, t-shirt slogans, and promotions. However, after Cunningham voiced a desire to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” it was now an issue that the WNBA needed to face head-on, whether it wanted to or not.

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Conservative media and provocateurs have seized the opportunity to highlight not only Cunningham’s comments but also all the reactions (or non-reactions) to them. That includes an incident during the Fever’s game against the Seattle Storm on July 28, in which a co-owner of the Storm approached two girls with signs supporting Cunningham and allegedly called them “f*cking insane.”

While Cunningham has received pushback from others, including her podcast co-host, WNBA players and coaches’ reactions had mostly been limited to well-timed t-shirts. That is, until Friday’s press conferences before the Fever’s game against the Portland Fire.

Both Fever coach Stephanie White and Fire coach Alex Sarama were asked for their thoughts on the situation ahead of Friday night’s game.

“I wouldn’t say I’m educated enough from a scientific standpoint, but I don’t ever believe that exclusion is an answer,” said White. “I just don’t. I do think, when we think about various levels of sport, various governing bodies of sport and things that go into that, as I said, I’m not educated enough at the different levels. I know growing up that I played with the boys all the time. There weren’t girls sports back then.”

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White was then asked if she would welcome a “biological male” into the WNBA.

“I don’t know, when we talk about biological males scientifically where we are, I think it’s a totally different scenario,” White added. “As I said, I’m not educated enough in transgender and transitioning to give you a smart answer. I would say, though, that I just don’t think that exclusion is an answer, and I think that we need to have deeper, more layered conversations.”