Indiana Fever stopped from discussing Sophie Cunningham trans debate

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White and two of her players were prevented from answering a question about Sophie Cunningham and her views against trans athletes that have ignited anger across the WNBA.

After her comments to ESPN last week where she said keeping trans athletes out of women’s sports was ‘common sense’, Cunningham and the Fever team returned to the court in Seattle on Tuesday and emerged 105-95 winners against the Storm.

But there was an anti-trans rally near the arena in support of Cunningham before Tuesday’s game. And when White was joined by Monique Billings and Kelsey Mitchell for a post-game press conference, the matter inevitably came up.

The reporter asked White about the protest and what she herself thought of Cunningham’s views ‘as a member of the LGBTQ+ community’. In the same question, Billings and Mitchell were asked if there had been conversations about Cunningham’s words in the locker room.

As White was about to speak, the Fever communications officer standing nearby interrupted.

‘We do have a statement, I’ll read,’ the person said. ‘So neither our organization or Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and had no contact with its organizers.

Indiana Fever’s coach and players were stopped from discussing Sophie Cunningham after their WNBA game on Tuesday night

Fever star Cunningham’s views on trans athletes have been under intesntifying scrutiny

Asked Stephanie White and the players about the rally and Sophie Cunningham’s recent comments. Fever PR responded with a statement from the organization:”Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers. Our only… pic.twitter.com/GBIqrn8HwH

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‘Our only goal as a team, whether home or away, is to win basketball games and make Fever fans for life and we are united on this mission. Do you have any more basketball questions?’

With that, the press conference returned to discussing the game. 

When the reporter was asking her question, White’s body language indicated that she was prepared to answer but Billings and Mitchell’s did not. They stared down and did not appear to look the reporter in the eye.

A crowd of a few dozen had gathered outside Climate Pledge Arena to both support Cunningham and promote statewide initiatives 638 and 011, which would bar transgender students from participating in girls’ athletics at Washington schools. 

As for Cunningham, and her star teammate Caitlin Clark – a close friend – they were not made available to reporters after the game. Clark usually always faces media after a Fever game.

Cunningham, late on Tuesday night, shared highlight clips from the game on her Instagram but did not address the scrutiny around her. She played 24 minutes in the game and scored 11 points.

She defended her comments in a separate social media post last week, captioning some pictures of herself with: ‘I said what I said.’ 

Storm head coach Sonia Raman, meanwhile, answered a question about the pregame protest following her team’s seventh consecutive loss.

Before the game, anti-trans protestors gathered in support of the Indiana Fever player

Stefanie Dolson wore a t-shirt which read ‘trans rights are human rights’ on Tuesday night

‘Seattle and this organization and Climate Pledge, we always want to be an area where people feel welcome coming into this building,’ Raman said. ‘I think we’ve always done a really good job with that. 

‘So, I know our organization was working closely with Climate Pledge and the security just to make sure that everybody feels safe and included and welcome when they walk in this door.

‘From what I understand, that was successful.’

Arriving for the Fever-Storm game at Climate Pledge Arena, the Storm’s Sonia Dolson appeared to make a very pointed statement to Cunningham by wearing a t-shirt which read ‘trans rights are human rights’. 

PH๏τographs of the political statement were posted by the team’s official accounts on both X and Instagram. 

Cunningham and her team remain on the West Coast and play again on Friday against Portland Fire.