Agreeing with Sophie Cunningham’s stance doesn’t make you transphobic

Some of us are way too quick to throw labels around on a sensitive subject

Some people saw bigotry. I saw bravery.

I saw a teenage girl speaking up on an issue that so many adults shy away from.

About 90 minutes before the Storm played the Fever last Tuesday, 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson stood at a rally outside Climate Pledge Arena wearing an XX-XY Athletics shirt while holding a sign reading “Thank You Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!” It was a nod to Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has recently come out against trans females competing against biological ones.

There were no slurs hurled. No malice detected. It was just Wilson, an Eastmont High student in East Wenatchee, demonstrating what some have trouble accepting: that agreeing with Cunningham’s position does not make you transphobic.

“I don’t hate trans people and I have nothing against them,” Wilson said. “I just think that girls should have their own sports.”

Two things can be true at once. You can show compassion for people who feel trapped in the wrong body while acknowledging they have a biological advantage. After all, why do we separate males and females in sports in the first place?

It’s not due to the potential awkwardness of physical contact. It’s because men have higher testosterone levels and different skeletal and muscular frames, which together produce significant performance advantages. This isn’t something I bring up at dinner parties, but it’s undeniable. By every measurable metric in sports — whether it be 100-meter times, vertical leaps, weightlifting, yards off the tee, etc. — the top males substantially outperform the top females.

In short: The separation is strictly for the sake of girls and women. So surely one can see why, to many, allowing biological males to compete against females undermines this division.

Wilson started speaking out after she finished second to a trans athlete in the mile at a Junior Olympics track meet two years ago. Before Tuesday’s Storm game, she said that most of the in-person feedback she’d received had been positive — that the real vitriol was online.

Well, all that changed a couple hours later in the arena, where Wilson sat courtside with her “Thank You Sophie” sign in hand.

During the game, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton walked over to Wilson, allegedly called her “f***ing insane,” added “I hope Jesus can forgive you,” and supposedly brought her to tears. This happened after a fan pointed to another Sophie supporter and yelled “garbage! Take the trash out!”

It’s been a category 5 hurricane since, with Keaton receiving a five-game suspension, J.K. Rowling and Cunningham showing Wilson support on X, and pundits from every corner of the internet dissecting the scene.

I suppose I could make this about the WNBA and its steady habit of garnering the wrong kind of attention. But I’d rather stick to the issue of who should be allowed to participate in women’s sports. This is what Wilson comes to rallies for — not international drama.

One common counterargument against her and Cunningham’s stance is that biological men in women’s sports is rare, so why make a fuss?

OK, but if something is wrong, why should it matter how rare it is? Are opponents saying that if the amount of trans athletes reaches a certain number, then we should address it? To me, this is almost a tacit admission that there is, indeed, something unfair occurring.

Plus, how rare is rare? Trans swimmer Lia Thomas won the national title in the women’s 500 meters while at Penn. Trans cyclist Veronica Ivy set a world record in the 200 meter sprint for her age group. Trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard won silver at the 2017 World Championships and in 2020, became the first openly trans person to compete in the Olympics.

Here in Washington, trans track athlete Veronica Garcia, representing East Valley High in Spokane Valley, won the 2025 state title in the 400 meters. In Oregon, McDaniel High’s Ada Gallagher won the 2025 state title in the 200 meters. In California, Jurupa Valley High’s AB Hernandez won the 2025 state title in the high jump and triple jump. This doesn’t mean trans athletes have overtaken women’s sports completely, but the list goes beyond the examples above.

Another counter is that trans people are more vulnerable than most, and barring them from sports could be emotionally devastating. I’m not unsympathetic to this. Two points, though. First — who’s to say that a biological girl wouldn’t also feel distressed if displaced by a trans athlete or forced to share a locker room with a biological male? Second and more importantly, this is about fairness, not feelings. The unfortunate truth with this issue is that someone is going to be disappointed — either the biological female who feels she’s unreasonably disadvantaged, or the trans athlete who can’t participate. This debate is simply about who it should be.

Come November, Washingtonians can vote on an initiative that, if passed, would preclude biological males from competing against females in school sports. And though one might think this will increase open dialogue on the matter, we all know this is one of the more frightening topics to address.

Even if polling suggests that most of the country sides with Cunningham and Wilson, nobody wants to be called a bigot or a transphobe.

Such attacks are what Tumwater High student Frances Staudt says she endures every day at school. Two Marches ago, Staudt refused to play basketball against a biological male from Shelton for fear of being injured. She added that the biological male’s presence in her locker room made her feel uncomfortable.That hasn’t spawned much sympathy from certain peers.

“I have people at my school cussing me out. I have people using some pretty awful words toward me as well. I’ve had people say ‘F-You, Frances,’ and ‘I hope you choke and die,’ Staudt said. “But I know ultimately I’m doing the right thing...this whole thing isn’t about hate.”

So it’s not an anti-trans movement? I asked Staudt.

“There’s only so many times that I can say that what we are standing up for is not ant-trans,” she said. “This is pro-women’s sports.”

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t bigoted or transphobic supporters of this position. But what if we withheld these labels until absolutely sure? Most people, I think, want to do what’s right. They just have different opinions on what right is.

We saw that at Tuesday’s rally, which included protesters who came to denounce the pro-Cunningham event. In one of their hands was a sign that read “No Hate in WA State.”

It was supposed to be a shot at the Sophie supporters, but I don’t think it landed. Something tells me that Ahnaleigh Wilson saw that and thought “I couldn’t agree more.”