{"id":52160,"date":"2026-08-11T15:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=52160"},"modified":"2026-08-11T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:27:09","slug":"soccer-star-megan-rapinoe-blasts-sophie-cunningham-riley-gaines-over-female-sports-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/08\/soccer-star-megan-rapinoe-blasts-sophie-cunningham-riley-gaines-over-female-sports-drama.html","title":{"rendered":"Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Blasts Sophie Cunningham, Riley Gaines Over Female Sports Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Left: Romain Biard \/ Shutterstock.com | Right: @Riley_Gaines_ \/ X<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The battle is on again about the role of transwomen in female sports and one women\u2019s soccer star has made her position clear. Megan Rapinoe of US Women\u2019s Soccer criticized Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham for taking a picture with conservative Riley Gaines. Cunningham has earned favor amongst conservative pundits for her take on keeping biological men on women\u2019s sports, saying in recent ESPN profile that she wanted to \u201cprotect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn\u2019t have to go against biological men.\u201d Gaines is well-known for speaking out against Lia Thomas, a biological man who competed in women\u2019s swimming and took top spots and medals from biological women. Gaines posted a picture of herself with Cunningham on X<\/a> with the headline, \u201cLittle girls belong!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rapinoe shared her own thoughts about the post during an episode of her podcast, \u201cWhy Are You Like This<\/a>?\u201d While admitting she didn\u2019t know Cunningham personally, she said seeing the WNBA star posing with Gaines, \u201ctold me everything I need to know about what\u2019s happening.\u201d She accused Gaines of making it her mission \u201cto exclude trans people from public life.\u201d \u201c[Gaines is] directly tied to the Heritage Foundation, the authors of Project 2025 and, now, 2026, who have now published a report that suggests that they want to repeal Title IX. The very piece of legislation that allowed athletes like Sophie and myself to compete in sports,\u201d warned Rapinoe.<\/p>\n

The soccer star went on to throw her own support behind trans athletes, saying \u201cthe root of trans exclusion is to protect young girls from men.\u201d While stating that\u2019s a conversations that is \u201cmuch needed,\u201d Rapinoe stated such framing is promoting an image of men in women\u2019s locker rooms, which is \u201cnot happening.\u201d \u201cIt villainizes trans girls as if they’re somehow magically older than their peers. Or are men, when in reality, they are also young girls,\u201d she said, without noting that young transwomen may still have biological male genitalia intact. Rapinoe has been outspoken in her political opinions during and after her soccer career, which has earned her the ire of many conservatives, who slammed Rapinoe\u2019s comments. \u201cMegan Rapinoe couldn\u2019t beat a boy\u2019s U15 team but she\u2019s over here actively trying to take opportunities from other biological women and no regard for their safety,\u201d wrote one account on X<\/a>. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t know her name if women\u2019s soccer had a team of trans women. Take a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The battle is on again about the role of transwomen in female sports and one women\u2019s soccer star has made her position clear. Megan Rapinoe of US Women\u2019s Soccer criticized Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham for taking a picture with conservative Riley Gaines. Cunningham has earned favor amongst conservative pundits for her take on keeping…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":52163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nSoccer Star Megan Rapinoe Blasts Sophie Cunningham, Riley Gaines Over Female Sports Drama<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Megan Rapinoe criticized WNBA star Sophie Cunningham over her stance on transgender athletes and a photo with activist Riley Gaines.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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