Cunningham's stance on transgender athletes struck a nerve with her former teammate


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Sydney Colson this week blasted Sophie Cunningham, her former Indiana Fever teammate, for controversial remarks Cunningham made earlier this year to ESPN centered around her stance against transgender women participating in women's sports.

Colson, a two-time WNBA champion who played in 30 games in 2025 for the Fever, discussed Cunningham's opinions on her podcast.

"For the white players in the league, when you don't say s---, and even worse, when you say things that are harmful, talking about the trans s---, nobody respects you," she said. "Shut the f--- up, shut the f--- up. Nobody wants to hear your opinion. Freedom of speech, so you can say it, but just know -- people are just trying to get by when they're dealing with you.

"You ought to be ashamed, y'all ought to be ashamed to act like you're cool with people, to act like you care about sisterhood, all of these things."

Cunningham previously said this season she wanted to "protect young girls in the locker room" and added "they shouldn't have to go against biological men."

She doesn't view herself as an activist, but did not backtrack on her statements.

"I said what I said. I think it's kind of common sense," Cunningham said. "And I think I'll always believe in that. I think it's really important to protect children, and that's little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said."

In August, the WNBA players' association released a statement declaring its belief in diversity and inclusion, saying it will "not be used as political pawns" in response to the league being thrust into the center of political debate.

"The WNBPA represents 200+ individual people with different lived experiences, cultures, lifestyles and opinions," the statement read. "We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women's sports while creating transformational change. Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns."

Cunningham is currently an unrestricted free agent after her one-year, $665,000 contract with the Fever expired after the team's first-round playoff loss to the Las Vegas Aces. She spent the last two seasons with the Fever after six seasons with the Phoenix Mercury to begin her career.

After Indiana's playoff elimination, Cunningham showed up to last week's Florida vs. Missouri football game donning a hat with "No Cis, Just... Woman" scripted on it.

"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," Cunningham told ESPN previously.

Colson said she lost respect for her former teammate.

"Listen, if you never speak up about a damn thing when you know it's impacting the people you claim to love, care about, you know, fighting together as a team, sisters and you don't speak up when things affect them ... they don't respect you, they're just trying to make it," Colson said.

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