For context, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham ignited the latest debate around transgender athletes when she spoke out against transgender athlete participation in women’s sports for this ESPN profile published July 21. “You can hear it even in the language being used that the root of trans exclusion is to protect young girls from men,” Rapinoe said. But it frames the conversation as if we’re protecting young girls from men being in WNBA locker rooms. “It villainizes trans girls, as if they’re somehow magically older than their peers or are men, when, in reality, they are also young girls. So, if anybody is taking these talking points as legit or believing they’re protecting young girls in sports, I just have to ask, are you serious?”