A WNBA starter is risking her career to defend girls’ sports and single-sex locker rooms, and Riley Gaines says almost no active pro athlete is brave enough to do what Sophie Cunningham is doing.
Story Snapshot
- Riley Gaines calls Sophie Cunningham one of the only active pro athletes willing to defend women’s single-sex sports and locker rooms.
- Sophie Cunningham says she is not anti-trans but wants to protect girls from competing against biological men and feeling unsafe in private spaces.
- Gaines argues the WNBA is “the most woke league of all time” and praises Cunningham for speaking out anyway.
- Gaines and other female athletes see a Supreme Court ruling upholding some state protections for women’s sports as momentum for their cause.
A WNBA Player Puts Her Career on the Line for Girls’ Sports
Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer, is now one of the best-known advocates for women’s single-sex sports and locker rooms. She says WNBA guard Sophie Cunningham is taking a stand that most active professional athletes are too afraid to take. In recent interviews and on her show, Gaines explained that Cunningham has spoken clearly against biological men competing in women’s sports and sharing female locker rooms, even though she plays in what Gaines calls “the most woke league of all time.”
Fox News reports that Gaines praised Cunningham as the “first current high-level female athlete” in a major professional league to openly defend these issues. On “The Riley Gaines Show,” Gaines read from an article where Cunningham said she wants to protect young girls in locker rooms and on teams from having to compete against biological males. Gaines stressed that Cunningham is not attacking transgender people as a group. Instead, Cunningham says she wants to extend love but also tell the truth about fairness and comfort for women and girls in intimate spaces.
Sophie Cunningham’s Message: Love, Truth, and Protecting Locker Rooms
On Gaines’ program, Cunningham’s own words show a simple but firm message. She says she “gets a lot of negative feedback” from people who accuse her of hating transgender individuals, but she insists that is false and that she never said she hates anyone. Cunningham explains that she believes her role is to “extend love” while also speaking truth. The truth, as she describes it, is that girls should not have to undress next to biological men in locker rooms or compete against them on the court in female leagues.
Gaines backed up Cunningham’s concerns by noting how women’s sports opened doors for Cunningham’s career and for many other female athletes. She argues that letting biological males into women’s divisions risks those chances for the next generation of girls. Cunningham says she does not want women feeling uncomfortable in “intimate areas of undressing such as a locker room.” That focus on privacy and safety matches Gaines’ broader advocacy for single-sex spaces for women’s sports, restrooms, and changing areas.
Why Riley Gaines Says Sophie Cunningham Is a Rare Voice
Gaines describes the WNBA as extremely focused on progressive social causes, calling it “the most woke league of all time.” In that environment, a player who questions transgender inclusion in women’s categories can risk backlash from media, sponsors, and league officials. Gaines argues that many active pros stay quiet because speaking up might cost them their contracts or damage their public image. That is why she says Cunningham’s stance is “courageous” and rare among current professional athletes.
In one clip shared on social media, Gaines even said “everyone needs a friend like Sophie Cunningham,” pointing to how Cunningham defended Caitlin Clark after a hard foul and called out the league for not protecting its star. Gaines believes that same protective instinct is what drives Cunningham to speak out for girls’ sports and locker rooms. For conservative viewers, this looks like a real-world example of an athlete choosing principle over pressure from a politically charged league and media culture.
The Bigger Fight Over Fairness, Transgender Athletes, and the Law
The stand by Cunningham comes as women like Gaines and Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner are cheering a recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld some state laws limiting biological males in girls’ and women’s sports. That decision gave a major win to the “Save Women’s Sports” movement and shows that courts are willing to protect sex-based categories in at least some states. At the same time, the Court did not order every state to adopt bans, so the fight continues in many places with mixed rules and ongoing lawsuits.
This issue isn't recently politicized, the policies were politicized in their creation by President Obamas Dear Colleague Letter, that redefined an entire sex class in federal law, without any vote, debate or input from women about how they felt about it. Women have been…
— Ayesha de Queiroz (@ayeshadequeiroz) July 23, 2026
Gaines has framed her own activism in terms of safety, privacy, and equal opportunity for female athletes. She points to research and reviews that say transgender inclusion, fairness, and safety often cannot all exist together under current rules, and that some sports may need new “open” or separate categories to balance these goals. As the science and policy debate grows, Gaines argues that voices like Cunningham’s are vital. In her view, ordinary parents, coaches, and players rarely hear active pros admit that girls should not compete against biological men or be forced to share private spaces with them.
Sources:
foxnews.com, sports.yahoo.com, youtube.com, newsweek.com, olympics.com, sf.gov
