Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham showed up to Missouri’s homecoming football game Saturday wearing a ball cap that read “No Cis Just … Woman,” with the word “Woman” printed in large letters across the front, according to the LA Times.
Cunningham, a Missouri graduate, was announced from the press box over the PA system during the game. As she walked onto the field to applause, she pointed with both hands to the hat.
Cunningham has said repeatedly that her position on the issue isn’t rooted in hostility toward transgender people. She argues instead that men should not compete against women in women’s sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham said in July. “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.”
She added at the time: “I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. And so I’ll stand on what I said, and I’ll always believe that.”
Cunningham has become a frequent target of activists since speaking out against men competing in women’s sports. Just this week, a columnist for The Athletic, which is owned by the New York Times, called on the Fever to cut Cunningham, arguing her views on the issue are “too turbulent” for the WNBA.
