The heated debate over transgender athletes surrounding the WNBA has now followed fans into the stands in arenas. Now, one Georgia family alleges that their support for Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham‘s position led to allegedly discriminatory behavior by security during the Fever’s game against the Atlanta Dream.
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According to veteran sports writer and reporter OutKick’s Jon Root on X, a woman named Casey and her daughter Annie, who attended the game between the Fever and the Dream on August 16, wore shirts from XX-XY Athletics, an apparel company that has closely associated itself with Cunningham’s stance of preventing trans women from playing in women’s sports. Root then claimed the pair had an unpleasant encounter with security, where they were discriminated against for the T-shirts they wore.
“Here’s a video of a local Georgia mom named Casey and her daughter Annie. They were told they had to put these Atlanta Dream t-shirts over their existing XX-XY Athletics t-shirts. They were told by a security guard that their shirts were offensive and they had to put on this Wellness Night t-shirt or they would be escorted out of the building…”
According to the Arena rules for the Atlanta Dream, security can intervene in situations where fans undertake prohibited conduct, including issuing warnings or even ejection from the arena.
“Verbal or physical actions that are threatening, obscene (including gestures), profane, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise offensive,” the Atlanta Dream Community Code of Conduct states when describing prohibited conduct.
“Severe actions such as court intrusion, throwing objects on the court, racial or anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, or physical aggression toward anyone will result in automatic ejection and a minimum one-year ban, with no warnings given.”
Given the controversial nature of XX-XY Athletics’ stance on trans inclusion in women’s sports, that could’ve been the reason that security asked them to put on Dream shirts instead. Despite a lack of confirmation, the pair are seen placing the Atlanta Dream Wellness Night T-shirts over their XX-XY T-shirts.
This isn’t the first time XX-XY has faced pushback from team authorities. During the Fever’s July 28 game against the Seattle Storm, Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton was accused of confronting and hurling profanities at two teenage fans wearing shirts from XX-XY and carrying signs supporting Sophie Cunningham’s comments on trans people from an ESPN profile on July 21.
Afterwards, the Storm released a public apology for her actions, and the WNBA fined Keaton and suspended her from five Seattle home games. That propelled XX-XY to the forefront of the debate, and the company moved quickly from there. They organized a rally in support of Sophie Cunningham outside of the Fever’s game against the Minnesota Lynx. And this support has translated into more than just visibility for the brand.
T-Shirt sales surged after the brand showed support for Sophie Cunningham
Following two back-to-back rallies at Seattle and Portland, Cunningham’s supporters organized a third consecutive rally outside Target Center on August 2. Meanwhile, brand founder Jennifer Sey and conservative commentator Riley Gaines met with Cunningham ahead of the game, and posed for pictures as both Sey and Gaines sported XX-XY T-shirts.
In a similar incident to the one Jon Root posted, Gaines claimed arena security also told her to put away a poster supporting Sophie Cunningham.
“He comes over there, and he says, ‘ You need to take your sign down.’ And I kind of push back. I’m like, ‘Why?’ And at this point, everyone in my little section was pretty outraged… And he says, ‘Well, I was told it has her name on it, so she can’t.’ And I said, ‘Whose name?’ He said, ‘Sophie. You can’t have her name on a poster.’” Gaines said in her YouTube vlog.
Following these incidents, the direct and indirect exposure for the brand resulted in a big sales boost. In their August 10 report, Front Office Sports revealed that Jennifer Sey told them sales had increased sixfold over the past two weeks.
Sey explained that even before speaking to FOS, August was on pace to become the biggest month of the brand in its history, and said 85% of their customers since the Sophie Cunningham report was released in late July were new customers.
However, the discourse and the surge could be far from over. A fourth rally has already been planned by Cunningham’s supporters on August 22 at 5:00 p.m. ET at the southeast corner of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue outside Barclays Center when the Fever take on the New York Liberty.
In light of everything that’s happened at the past rallies, it may be safe to assume that the fourth one will be equally eventful. Meanwhile, whether the Dream addresses the allegations made by the family remains to be seen, but it’s clear that this latest controversy has only added to the WNBA’s debate over arena conduct.