The WNBA apologized after security at Sunday’s game between the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream instructed fans wearing both pro- and anti-transgender messages to cover their shirts.
“This should not have happened,” the league says in a statement following the game.
The incident reportedly involved three fans. Two were wearing shirts opposing the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, while another fan was wearing a shirt supporting transgender rights.
The Atlanta Dream distanced itself from the security decision, saying team personnel were not involved.
“The Atlanta Dream believes in creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone,” the team says in a statement. “Unfortunately, at last night’s game, WNBA security took actions that fell short of that standard.”
Among the fans approached were Kasey Thomason and her daughter Annie, who later spoke to Fox News about the incident. Thomason wore a shirt from XX-XY Athletics, a brand founded by former gymnast Jennifer Sey that advocates against transgender women competing in women’s sports. Her daughter wore a shirt associated with anti-trans activist Riley Gaines.
The pair say a security guard approached them during overtime and told them they would either need to cover their shirts or leave the arena. According to Thomason, security told them someone had complained about the shirts.
The controversy comes as debates over transgender athletes have increasingly surrounded the WNBA, despite there never having been an active openly transgender player in the league.
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham recently drew national attention after saying during an ESPN interview that excluding transgender women from women’s sports was “common sense.”
Cunningham later defended her position, saying she does not hate transgender people but believes restrictions are necessary to protect girls and women in sports and locker rooms. Her comments have since made her a prominent figure in the debate surrounding transgender participation in athletics.
Cunningham has also appeared publicly with Gaines, who has become one of the country’s most visible activists opposing transgender women’s participation in women’s sports.
Others within the WNBA have publicly pushed back against that position.
Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a shirt reading “Trans Kids Belong” during a recent game against the Fever and told reporters that discussions surrounding transgender athletes should begin from a position of inclusion.
Reeve acknowledged that questions surrounding elite competition, puberty and athletic scholarships can become more complicated, but argued that transgender people should not be treated as threats and that inclusion should remain the starting point.
The growing debate has increasingly followed WNBA players, coaches and fans into arenas. Cunningham was reportedly booed during a recent game against Minnesota, while fans displayed signs and wore shirts supporting transgender people.
Sunday’s incident in Atlanta appears to have placed the league in the middle of that debate once again—this time over how political and social messages displayed by fans should be handled inside WNBA arenas.
By apologizing for security requiring both sides to cover their shirts, the league acknowledged that its response during the game did not meet its standards.
Photos courtesy of social media
